[rating=4] Do you love the fairy tales as told by The Brothers Grimm? Stories like “Rapunzel”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Cinderella”, “Little Red Ridinghood” as well as Giants and Witches? If so, you will surely enjoy “Into The Woods”, the glorious work of art with a book by James Lapine and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. If you think the Grimm Brothers were clever writers, then you ain’t seen anything yet! Sondheim was the greatest wordsmith to create musical theater, ever! This particular piece is his masterpiece! And while we just had a marvelous production at one of our local theaters, the Broadway In Chicago touring company’s production ranks with the best of the best!
Tonight’s opening night was not what was anticipated as far as cast, in that two of the roles were performed by “understudies”. While we were given the opportunity to reschedule for another performance, I feel that the person that does the role, no matter who they are, has put in the work and deserves the chance to be reviewed ( it may be their only opportunity, so why not?). Lucinda, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, in tonight’s performance, was played by Ellie Fishman during the opening number, and then she was replaced by Erica Durham as Fishman replaced Diane Phelan as Cinderella for the rest of the show), who along with Brooke Ishibashi as Florinda, and Nancy Opel as her stepmother were terrific. Cinderella’s father is handled by Josh Breckenridge and her mother ( now deceased) and other roles are played by Felicia Curry. Cinderella, herself is played to perfection by Diane Phelan for the opening number and then she was replaced by Ellie Fishman..
The Baker and His Wife are in fact the main characters, along with their neighbor, The Witch ( a powerful performance by Montego Glover who sings “Stay With Me” and “The Witch’s Lament” as well as “Last Midnight” with her own interpretation). She never tries to imitate the original actress in this role, (Bernadette Peters). The Baker (Sebastian Arcelus was meant to play this role) and his wife ( Ximone Rose was amazing- there was no way that the audience felt that she had not been playing this role on a regular basis), are the childless couple who must break a curse and to do so, they must go “Into The Woods”!.
Note: The Actors Equity rule is that when an understudy is to appear, there must be an announcement. Tonight , in addition to the initial announcements and addition to the program, another change had to be made and thus the stoppage of the show to make announcements to the additional changes. This was handled with great class by those onstage, in particular the Narrator/Mystery Man ( a delightful David Patrick Kelly).
The rest of the cast was intact and splendid. Cinderella’s Prince( Gavin Creel, who also plays the Wolf) and his brother Rapunzel’s Prince (Jason Forbach) were very well played and their two songs were right on target for laughs. I was
quite impressed by Katy Geraghty as Little Red Ridinghood and thought that Aymee Garcia as Jack’s Mother was delicious. Jack, by the way, was handled to perfection by Cole Thompson and his “Milky White Cow was puppeteered by Kennedy Kanagawa. Rapunzel is played by Alysia Velez and the Prince’s Steward by Jim Stanek. The handling of the Giants is done by the puppeteers and the voice of the Giant is done by Felicia Curry.
quite impressed by Katy Geraghty as Little Red Ridinghood and thought that Aymee Garcia as Jack’s Mother was delicious. Jack, by the way, was handled to perfection by Cole Thompson and his “Milky White Cow was puppeteered by Kennedy Kanagawa. Rapunzel is played by Alysia Velez and the Prince’s Steward by Jim Stanek. The handling of the Giants is done by the puppeteers and the voice of the Giant is done by Felicia Curry.The show is in many ways an ensemble piece and as directed by Lear deBessonet with choreography by Lorin Latarro, this is a solid production that would have bene flawless except for the break in the action for the announcement 
I must tell you that I adore this show and have from the first production I saw back in 1987 when it opened on my 45th birthday. The melding of all of these unique stories into one is wonderful and the music is designed to make it all fit. The inner action of the characters from these different stories is special and yes, there is a moral ( don’t all kids stories have one, or two?). “No One Is Alone”, “No More” and “Children Will Listen” all help to get their point to the audience and Lapine and Sondheim do it with style and grace!
“Into The Woods” will continue at The Nederlander Theatre located at 24 West Randolph in Chicago thru May7th with performances as follows:
Thu, Apr 27:7:30pmFri, Apr 28:7:30pm
Sat, Apr 29:2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sun, Apr 30:2:00pm & 7:30pm
Tue, May 2:7:30pm
Wed, May 3:2:00pm & 7:30pm
Thu, May 4:7:30pm
Fri, May 5:7:30pm
Sat, May 6:2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sun, May 7:2:00pm
for tickets www.BroadwayInChicago.com
Or stop by any Broadway In Chicago Theatre box office.
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Into The Woods”.
Show Type: Musical
The actual role of The Bakers Wife is played by Stephanie J. Block and Lucinda by Tanika Gibson
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