Into the Woods, Attic Productions

July 9-26, D. Geraldine Lawson Performing Arts Center, Fincastle, 7:30 pm, 2 hour 45 minute run time including one 15 minute intermission.

Let it not be said that our local community theater companies are short on ambition! After Bear Theatre's impressive unabridged Romeo and Juliet last month, I was pleasantly surprised to see this equally impressive and equally ambitious production of Into the Woods. 

Wrangling a cast of nearly 30, director Kerry Williams has done an impressive job with a musical that is, to put it lightly, difficult. Sondheim's music is notoriously hard to sing, and this particular musical features smart but relentless lyrics, a mishmash of several story lines, and several other difficult-to-handle components (how do you put a giant on stage? How do you transform a witch? How do you portray a tower? How do you keep people from thinking the intermission is the end?).

Into the Woods is a tightly controlled musical. I've seen several productions and they are all very much the same - there is not much leeway in how to stage it, or how to perform it. It's not like Shakespeare, where you can give it a fresh take by creating a sci-fi setting or something. Into the Woods is what it is. If you go into this production having already seen it, you will be delighted to remember how great it was last time, and to admire these actors doing an outstanding job on this rendition.

About Into the Woods as a show: it is, frankly, overwhelming in the storytelling department. There are at least four main fairytale storylines, and every song contains at least 4-5 phrases that could be interpreted as "the moral of the story." What is this show even trying to convey? Best I can tell, there are two main themes: a) life gets tricky when you go "into the woods" and stray from the path, but that's also where growth and magic happens; b) you're not in it alone, so you have to be aware and careful of others. (Now that I have written that, I am second-guessing myself. Maybe it's really about being careful what you wish for. Maybe it's really about parents and children and the power of stories. Maybe... sigh.)

Unlike Never After Happily, which Attic performed in April, this one does not require any prior knowledge of fairy tales or Disney movies. (Indeed, this telling does not shy away from the more grisly components of the Brothers Grimm - be warned there are significant references to death, disembowelment, and dismemberment; several characters do die before the end). It might be helpful to have a listen to the soundtrack in advance, not for any weakness in the performance, but because these songs are so chock-full of words that flit by so quickly, most audience members will barely be able to keep up with a live performance -- unless you, like me, acquired this soundtrack on cassette tape as a youngster and promptly memorized it. (No I did not sing along tonight. But I was tempted.)

This particular production was full of delights. Allow me to enumerate several.

1. Visual joys: I loved the storybook motifs at the beginning (that was something I had not seen before!) and the rest of the set was fun to look at as well. The costumes were nearly all splendid - beautiful fabrics, fun to look at. I appreciated the costume transformations between acts one and two in particular. The lighting was also a strong component in this production. Unlike Never After Happily, this show was the right size for the space - a great fit for the Attic stage.

2. Auditory joys: So, the musical accompaniment was recorded. I was slightly disappointed, but I definitely understand that mustering an entire orchestra, in addition to a 30-person cast, is an extremely heavy lift for a community theater. Music Director Jessica Mansfield did many things so well, not least of which was finessing the volume of the instrumentals and the vocals. Almost never did we struggle to hear the singers over the orchestra. That's no small thing. Nearly every singer was on pitch the entire time, and some were especially good (see below). Every singer enunciated well (though again, I have the whole thing memorized, so it's possible I just knew what they were going to say. Your mileage may vary.) Keeping the singers on tempo and aligned with the soundtrack was challenging for a few songs. Ms. Mansfield was positioned near the stage and was gamely conducting the entire show, trying her best, I'm sure, to get them back into alignment, but I did wonder whether the actors could even see her. This only happened on a few songs and I'm sure will get better as they keep at it in the coming weeks.

3. Humor: I had forgotten this musical is so funny. This group missed not a single opportunity for a laugh. Come looking for the humor, and you will find it.

4. Casting: what a delightful group of performers!

As I see it, there are six principals in this show. Cinderella, Jack, Little Red Riding Hood, the Baker, the Baker's Wife, and the Witch. I must say, after the opening song sequence featuring these six, I was stunned at the high quality of the performance. They were in sync, energetic, and so very captivating. Although some later numbers were more uneven, these six still maintained a very impressive delivery throughout this extremely ambitious and exhausting production. Cayton Savinda's Cinderella deserves strong praise for her especially lovely singing voice. Tela Jo as Little Red Ridinghood was pitch-perfect in her feisty yet vulnerable portrayal. Jason Cox as the Baker and Elizabeth Brancati as the Baker's Wife carried the plot ably and sang with real emotion and grace. (Brancati made her character much more likeable, less sharp, than I've seen others portray it - an interesting choice that makes her infidelity and death more complicated.) Cameron Wimbish showed delightful physical humor and heartwarming joy in the part of Jack.

Confession: I was nearly late. I missed the director's introduction. So I appear to have missed the announcement (which was not clear from the program) that the Witch is played by Christy Krispin and Megan Overly on alternating nights. I had the joy of seeing Overly's performance. She ably managed a somewhat cumbersome costume to sing around, including an eye mask. Overly did justice to an extremely difficult part, rapping, belting, emoting -- and taking one song acapella when something seemed to go wrong with the instrumental soundtrack, maintaining her pitch perfectly the entire time. Impressive! [This paragraph has been fixed thanks to a comment - many thanks, Megan!]

 Apart from the principals, there are a handful of supporting parts. Among these, Jack's Mother, portrayed by Carolyn Alvarez, stands out. She brought so much liveliness and intelligence to this part, I found myself just wanting to watch her and nobody else. The same goes for Gwenna Hartvigsen's Milky-White the Cow. Though the part had no lines, Hartvigsen handily carried the cow puppet (which was astonishingly wonderful! I just wanted to keep looking at that cow!) and offered captivating bovine facial expressions with a professional's focus and charisma. 

Williams made some truly inspired directing choices. Casting children as Cinderella's birds, and other relevant animals, was brilliant, and those kids did a great job. Mandy Masching's choreography added a lot, especially for the two princes, Hudson Elswick and Blake Arney, whose charisma and chemistry elevated both of their duets. It was a very strong cast overall.

I did not come to this production expecting anything particularly new. This show is not new to me. But one thing that Williams did really stood out in my mind. She cast Gary Jenkins as Cinderella's father. Jenkins did a wonderful job portraying this slovenly, washed-up patriarch. Jenkins uses a wheelchair; he has lost a leg from the knee down. He was able to navigate the entire play from his wheelchair (except for the one time he fell out - on purpose - and got himself back into it with no help, which was impressive). Seeing this, I noticed for the first time the role of disability in the play. Florinda and Lucinda (ably and hilariously portrayed by Kailee Weiman and Hailey Vandergrift) ended up blind, and with impaired feet. Rapunzel's prince is also blinded; Rapunzel herself seems to have a mental illness or perhaps PTSD; the Baker and his wife struggle with infertility; and even the Witch loses her powers and has to find a way to deal with her diminished capacities. 

So, let's add that to the list of "morals of the story"from this sprawling, ambitious musical: there is room in this story for differing abilities, which change over time. 

Whatever the moral of the story, I hope the message of this review is clear: This is an extremely well done production, and you will enjoy it very much!