“Into The Woods”

There are a great many stories contained within this major musical. The Baker (played to perfection by Kevin Webb) and his wife ( deftly handled by Sonia Goldberg) are childless and dream of having a child. It turns out that the Baker’s father had a spell put on him by his next door neighbor, The Witch ( a dynamic portrayal by Stephanie Stockwell). She will undo the curse if they can bring her some items that will allow her to become beautiful again and in order to find these items they must go “Into The Woods”!

Red Riding  Hood (Anna Seibert) is also going into the woods to visit grandma, Jack (Kevin Para) is also headed in that direction to sell a cow in order to buy some food. It turns out that when the Baker puts on his dad’s old jacket, there are some beans in the pocket. They turn out to be magic beans and you guessed it- the beanstalk and therefor the giant ( and later his wife). It is a story filled with plots and sub plots and many messages tfrom which to learn . After all, don’t they say there is a moral to every fairy tale.

This is a strong cast and smoothly directed by Derek Van Barham, who also did the choreography ( limited by the space itself, but what is done works). They are doing this production with twin grand pianos and two amazing musicians, Ariana Miles and Evelyn Ryan. They were given and earned the opening night standing ovation given to them- outstanding. I am unsure if there is a Jeff Award for musicians, but if so, it should be theirs.

The ensemble of players are powerful. This s a long play-  two hours PLUS and most of the actors are onstage or around the stage area the entire time. The Mysterious Man/Narrator ( a wonderful performance by August Forman) starts the play and appears from time to time to narrate or be a character. Foreman is outstanding. The other cast members are: Emily Goldberg as Cinderella’s mother and her stepmother (this is unusual casting as the ladies near me were confused by this- I would have had her do the deceased mother offstage so only her wonderful voice be heard), Madison Kauffman as Cinderella, Shea Hopkins as the prince and the Wolf, Britain Gebhardt as Jack’s mother and a stepsister, Ismael Garcia as Repunzel and the other step-sister and Jonathan Allsop as Repunzel’s Prince ( brother to Cinderella’s Prince). Great cast doing a great job.

I know there are people out there who say that they do not like this musical. I must tell you that being in this intimate space may just change your mind. My wife, who always said this is not one of her favorites, loved what she saw and said she was comfortable with the production and loved the voices. Again, the only fault I could find is that there are some bad sight lines. Otherwise, a flawless production skillfully brought to fruition and worth the trip to the Chopin Theatre.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Into The Woods”.