“Into The Woods”

Highly Recommended ***** Once upon a time…in a northern suburb called Glencoe, a theater was built by a young man from England. His name was Michael and he had a dream. It was to create a very special theater where the highest quality of productions would fill its stage ( then stages). They called it Writers Theatre. That was more than 25 years ago, and Michael is still coming up with new concepts to make this theater the top of the heap. Michael Halberstam is a genius! That being said, here is my review of their latest production, “Into The Woods”.

Over the years, Chicago theater audiences have had many opportunities to see the works of Stephen Sondheim, as seen and interpreted by one Gary Griffin ( who many think may be the ultimate in doing these). How luck are we that Writers Theatre in Glencoe snatched him up to open their 2019/2020 season with the finest production of his “Into the Woods” ( with a wonderful book by James Lapine). This epic musical features classic “fairy Tales: and characters that many of us grew up on.” Little Red Ridinghood”,” Cinderella”,  “The Baker and his Wife”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Repunzel” and a host of others. Lapine and Sondheim have intertwined their stories to create a masterful tale that is both beautiful and thought provoking. “Careful The Things You Say, Children Will Listen” is one of the songs in this wonderfully woven story.

Griffin has cast this show to perfection! Each actor knows his characters and how each of them relates to the others. That is what makes this a smooth storytelling experience for the audience. Unlike other versions of the show, the theater has been transformed to be almost in-the-round ( not like the Marriott stage) with the musicians ( only three who are wonderful and truly make the music fit) on stage, in costume. Great concept. The audience feels as if they are “Into the Woods” throughout the 2 hours and 35 minutes ( there is an intermission) that is probably the shortest two hours plus in the theater one can sit through. No one wanted the play to end!

I admit that this is my favorite Sondheim show, if not my favorite musical of all times, having seen it 28 times. I will also admit that what Griffin has brought to the Writers stage served to reinforce my love for the show. The story is simple.

A baker ( Michael Mahler, who as always exceeds the expectations of his audience) and his wife ( played to perfection by Brianna Borger) are childless. It seems that many years prior, his next door neighbor, The Witch ( just watching Bethany Thomas bring her special flavor to this character is worth the price of a ticket. She is SPECIAL!) has placed a spell on their house that this is so. BUT, if they want to undo the spell, they can bring her some ingredients for a special potion, and so they set off “Into The Woods” to do just that.

The other characters, Red Riding Hood ( Lucy Godinez just keeps showing us her range of talents), The Wolf (Matt Edmonds), Grandma ( Harriet Nzinga Plumpp, who also plays Cinderella’s Mother), Jack ( deftly handled by Ben Barker), his mother ( the always reliable McKinley Carter), Cinderella ( solidly played by Ximone Rose), her step-mother (Kelli Harrington) and step-sisters ( Molly Hernandez as Florinda and Nicole Arnold as Lucinda), Rapunzel ( Cecilia Iole) and of course the two princes, Ryan McBride and Alex Benoit are wonderful with great timing as they do their duets that truly show off the talent of wordsmith Sondheim.

This covers the characters with the exception of the Narrator played to perfection by Artistic Director/Founder of Writers, Michael Halberstam. How glorious for us to see the creator of the theater we sit in telling us a story as marvelous as the productions that Writers does! Oh yes, there is one more actor, William Brown who plays the Mysterious Man ( you will find out later in the show who he is, as well as Cinderella’s Father). After September 17th, these role will be assumed by another Chicago legend, Jonathan Weir.

Oh, yes, one more time. In every production I have ever seen Milky White Cow has been a plastic cow that is on wheels and falls down when it dies. Griffin, with his mind, has opted to use a woman to play the role and Mary Poole is a delight.

The music direction was handled by Matt Deitchman, who also did the reorchestrations. Choreography for this production was handled by Aubrey Adams. Scott Davis designed a set where the audience blends right into the woods and the sound (Christopher M. LaPorte) and lighting (Lee Fiskness) keep the flow of action in sight and heard with no problems.  Rachel Watson’s props and Mara Blumenfeld’s costumes along with the special effects make-up by Nan Zabriskie complete a masterful production from head to toe.

The musicians truly added to the experience. Charlotte Rivard-Hoster on the piano and conductor along with Jeff Handley on percussion and Mike Matlock on piccolo,flute,clarinet, soprano sax, oboe and bassoon. this trio is fantastic!

“Into The Woods” will continue at Writers Theatre located at 325 Tudor Ct. in Glencoe thru September 22nd with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  7:30 p.m.

Wednesdays  7:30 p.m.

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m. and 6 p.m. (except 91 and 9/15)

Wednesday matinée on 8/28 and 9/11

Tickets range from $35-$80 and can be purchased at the box office, by calling 847-242-6000 or at www.writerstheatre.org

Parking is free on the street or at the train station lot.

Tuesday nights post show conversations-The Word

Wednesday post show- The Artist

Before Thursday shows at 6:45 in the atrium learn about the content and context of the show.

To see what others are saying, visit http://www.theatreinchicago.com go to Review Round-Up and click at “Into The Woods”. This is a MUST SEE!

all photos by Michael Brosilow