[rating=5]When it was announced that Paramount Theatre would be doing “Into The Woods” this year, and that Jim Corti would be directing the production, I knew that heaven was on its way. I must first explain that this is one of my all time favorite musicals. With an amazing book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, this is a marvelous fantasy taking all of the tales of the Brothers Grimm to a place that no one else has ever dared to go. I have probably seen the show 20 plus times and yet, watching tonight’s performance almost felt as if this was the first time.
For those who have never seen or heard of this show, it is a little hard to follow a synopsis as there are many stories woven into one wonderful theatrical experience:
The baker and his wife, who are childless!
Little Red Ridinghood and her “wolf”
Rapunzel
Cinderella
Jack and the Beanstalk
would you believe they are all in the same area and they all have reason to go “Into the Woods”.
It is the intermixing of these characters that creates the special part of what Lapine and Sondheim created. Corti has found a perfect cast of players to take us there with them.
In the beginning we have a narrator ( Larry Yando shows us his skill as an actor as he walks us through the story as “the mysterious man”), who as it turns out is someone of great importance to the key story. The baker (Stephen Schellhardt is perfect) and his wife ( the fabulous Sarah Bockel ) are childless because of a curse put on their house by their next door neighbor, The Witch ( Natalie Weiss plays this with her own interpretation rather than try to imitate others). The witch explains that they can break the curse but to do so they must go “Into The Woods” and gather some items.
These items are what brings all the different Fairly Tales together. It is a very clever concept and it works.
The two actors who handle the roles of the Princes are wonderful and their two songs are audience pleasers. As I said earlier, I have seen countless productions and this is the first time that these songs “Agony” have been so applauded. A tip of the hat to Devin DeSantis (Rapunzel’s Prince) and Alex Syiek ( Cinderella’s Prince) for their great work. Syiek also does a great Wolf in the scene with Red RidingHood (Lucy Panush is a delight)!
Cinderella ( played to perfection by Hannah Louise Fernandes) has some powerful songs and of course her story is one of great complications as she struggles to survive with her step-mother ( Kelli Harrington) and her two step-sisters ( both Ann Delaney and Landreee Fleming are delightful and play the comic characters well). Dana Tretta plays Cinderella’s mother in spirit.
Jack ( Will Koski , making his Chicago area debut, is adorable) and his mother ( Christine Bunuan is a scream) tell their story with the Giant, and his wife ( voiced by Dana Tretta) and one of the highlights of this story is Milky White, Jack’s cow and best friend. This is a puppet (Jesse Mooney-Bullock designed the puppets in this production and Adam Fane handles the “character/puppet” of Milky White ), making it seem more real than just pulling a plastic cow around the stage. In fact, Milky White seemed almost alive!
Rapunzel (Molly Hernandez) is as cute as a button and the way they have staged the “let down your hair” is terrific. In fact, probably the best I have seen yet!
I think I covered the wonderful cast but feel the need to mention the ensemble as without them, this production doesn’t work: Cinderella’s Father (Nnamdi K. Nwankwo), Marta Bady, Grace Bobber ( who also will be Sleeping Beauty), Alana Chavez ( who also plays Snow White), Ryan Stajmiger, Darian Goulding and Sophie Grimm..
The set (Jeffrey D. Kmiec) is magnificent and truly gives you the “woodsy feeling” that keeps the story going. The lighting (Jose Santiago) was illuminating ( sorry for the pun, but it felt good), and the sound (Adam Rosenthal) I judge the sound by my need for my hearing aids or not. I did not need any assistance with any character. The costumes (Jordan Ross) were amazingly close to what the characters look like in the books and the projections (Paul Deziel) make the pieces of the puzzle fit.
There is not a lot of choreography in this show , but what there is ,is quite fitting and Kasey Alfonso gets kudos . By the way, there is also an intimacy and fight director ( Max Fabian who does a special scene with Cinderella’s Prince and The Bakers Wife that will leave a lasting impression) and of course, I need to mention that there was a co-director with Jim Corti- Trent Stork.
The 15 piece orchestra was conducted by Kory Danielson and the music was marvelous. Janice MacDonald, Karl Rzasa, Sharon Jones, Wendy Benner, Loretta Gillespie, Jocelyn Shoulders, Celia Vilacres, Dave Victor, Cameron Tragesser ( associate conductor) Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, Elena Spiegel, Jeremiah Frederick, Matt Lee and Sean McNeely. Steven would have loved the way you made his music sound!
“Into The Woods” will continue through March 19th with performances as follows:
Wednesdays 1:30pm & 7:00pm
Thursdays 7:00pm
Fridays 8:00pm
Saturdays 3:00pm & 8:00pm
Sundays 1:00pm & 5:30pm
Show Type: Musical
Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. For tickets and
information, visit paramountaurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office
Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Note: Into the Woods is suggested for ages 12 and up
for violence and loud noises.
SPECIAL NOTE: there are two acts, and while it seems that the play ends happily as act one closes, the story will be continued AFTER a short intermission. DO NOT LEAVE!!!
The play is almost three hours in total, but probably the BEST 3 hours you will ever spend in a theater. ENJOY!
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com , go to Review Round-Up and click at “Into The Woods”.
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