Strong vocal and acting performances make the current Broadway by the Bay production of the Stephen Sondheim- James Levine musical of reconstructed fairy tales, “Into the Woods,” pleasurable despite some shortcomings in special effects, set design and direction.
The cast is chockfull of professional-level singers and performers, an absolute necessity to bring this 1987 show to life. Uppermost is Jen Brooks, who infuses her witch’s role with the right amount of dastardly heartlessness, yet is affecting when she shows motherly concern for her daughter, Rapunzel (Chloe Angst, whose vocal histrionics are clearly heard throughout the cavernous theater).
Equally affecting and vocally sound is Juliana Lustenader as the Baker’s wife. Lustenader’s solid acting helps keep the storyline moving, and she’s perfectly delightful when she has a brief romantic encounter in the woods with handsome, arrogant Prince Charming (a poker-faced, steady John Melis).
Several others in the 16-member cast hold up their share of the storyline as well:
–David Hundsness does a credit job in the dual role of both Narrator and the Mysterious Man (and he slips in-and-out of the vastly different costumes so quickly!)
–Jennifer Mitchell’s Cinderella is sweet, kindhearted and thoughtful, but she is shortchanged in the abbreviated scene when she is transformed from the poor stepdaughter into a princess (her mother simply tosses her a gown – a move that was met with laughter from the audience – before she runs offstage). And the gown itself? So not befitting a Princess.
–Jenni Chapman’s hyper version of Little Red Ridinghood has a way of sauntering around wearing a devilish glint in her eyes and carrying a knife to assuage her penchant for carving someone up.
–Michael Stahl as the “other” prince shows both a commanding voice and a playful way of trying to one-up Prince Charming.
Someone, likely director Jasen Jeffrey, had the idea of casting tall, slender David Blackburn as Cinderella’s stepmother. Blackburn is a multi-talented actor, so this could have been a comic coup. But other than fluffing up his very bouffant hairdo and swishing his skirt around, he’s not funny. One reason is that Blackburn’s movements as a woman are both repetitious and disingenuous. Nor does it help that his lips are a ghoulish black.
But the biggest problem with this production is that the special effects are neither very special nor very effective. A poof of colored lighting works, as does a fissure of steam to make a character disappear. But the voice of the giant can’t be understood, and the big climatic scene when she’s supposed to fall down into the woods and die doesn’t even register with the audience for awhile. Where’s the shaking and quaking?
It’s also doesn’t work to have men suddenly appear on stage for no other reason than to hold up a white sheet so that the saga of the wolf eating grandma and Red ripping open his stomach to free her can be played out like shadow puppets. It just looks amateurish.
And what’s up with Milky White? Here, she’s the most unattractive, physically askew cow ever (although her udder works well). But why are Milky’s back legs much higher than her front ones?
Music Director Sean Kana guides his large orchestra through the stellar Sondheim songbook with ease, though there was one musical misstep in the Act 1 song “Stay with Me,” sung by the Witch. A loud sound blared out for about 10 seconds right in the middle of Brooks’ vocal.
Other than Cinderella’s frock, most of Katelyn Bailey’s costumes are fine, as are Jon Hayward’s sound and Joe D’Emilio’s lighting.
The Fox Theatre’s stage should be able to encompass a scary, three-dimensional woods, yet in this production, the woods are only in the background while most of the action takes place on a flat floor or on multi-stepped rocks. That certainly doesn’t let the audience understand the loneliness and uncertainty of the fabled characters who should be wandering through the trees.
It helps, of course, that so many memorable Sondheim songs like the ironic “Agony,” “Into the Woods,” the haunting “Last Midnight,” as well as “No One is Alone” and the poignant “Children Will Listen” are all a part of this production.
This is a “Woods” that has fine singing and acting. Were that the production team had kept its end of the bargain.
Joanne is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Theatre Bay Area. Email her at joanneengelhardt@comcast.net
Theater review
What: “Into the Woods”
Where: Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City
When: Saturdays and Sundays only. Check website for specific dates and times.
Through: Nov. 24
Tickets: $44 – $66 (650) 579-5565 or www.broadwaybythebay.org