Scottsdale Community Player's Into the Woods at Stagebrush Theatre
(out
of )Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 12/8/99
(out
of )There's probably no need to reiterate my passion for this generation's greatest Broadway Composer/Lyricist, Stephen Sondheim. What I will mention may be surprising, though. I actually have problems with some of his musical works, including the flawed Into the Woods, written with James Lapine. I attended the original Broadway production, and several productions since, and while I loved the first act, I couldn't stand the second. This is a musical that interweaves standard and original fairy tales together, then has the characters deal with the consequences of their Happily Ever Afters. It's great in theory, but never really worked in execution. That is, until now. In what is the best musical production I've seen mounted thusfar by the ever-rising Scottsdale Community Players at Stagebrush Theatre, both the Happily Ever Afters and resulting aftershocks work wonderfully, making for one of the best productions this season.
Take a bow, Director D. Scott Withers, Musical Director Alan Ruch, and the entire talented design crew, for creating the perfect setting, tone and pacing to compliment the nearly flawless cast. The dark, misty woods of this fairytale kingdom hold a great collection of triple-threat performers who weave their magic on the audience through dialogue, song and dance.
It's almost impossible to point out all the great performances without shortchanging everyone's spectacular contributions. Gregory Jaye and Beth Anne Johnson give dead-on sympathetic and lively portrayals of the childless Baker and his Wife. There are golden-throated offerings from Natalie Ellis as Cinderella and Jason Powell as the slightly daft Jack. Wonderful, too, are the hilarious creations by Kimberlee Hart as Little Red Ridinghood, Mel Reid in his dual roles of Narrator and Mysterious Man, T.J. Weltzien's ominous Wolf and priggish Steward, and the haughty Princes as portrayed by Dion Johnson and Scott Schmelder. Even the slight vocal hesitations and lack of projection of Jacque M. Collins are overcome to wonderful effect when she sings the Witch's best number in the second act, "Last Midnight."
The supporting cast, led by great performances from Jen Haran, Sara Wolter and Nikki Hodgen as Jack's mother, Rapunzel and Red Ridinghood's Granny respectively, are mostly up to the same level of the amazing leads in the show. The group numbers are full of life and spirit, spilling their enthusiasm into the aisles of the theatre and always creating great stage pictures. And while Flora Mogerman's onstage, five-person orchestra occasionally overwhelms the singers, they handle Sondheim's maddeningly complex music so well, they must be forgiven their power.
Mr. Weltzien has once again topped himself with his Scenic Design, incorporating an onstage revolve, three moving houses, and trees in the aisles to allow for extra lighting positions. Michael S. Eddy uses those positions, and a mountain of goboes and amber gels, to amazing effect. Timothy C. Slope has once again proven a costuming master, from Red's Riding Hood to the regal princes' wardrobe. The only technical snafu during the Wednesday night performance came from David Temby's Sound Design, which was generally solid, but included horrible, unrelenting feedback throughout the entire show, bad enough to drive one couple from the theatre before intermission.
There are a few qualifiers, as always when Sondheim is involved. This show is not appropriate for very young children, since it is a rather dark subject and includes scary pyrotechnics and lighting effects. The lyrics are so complicated that New York's yearly-revolving cabaret satire, Forbidden Broadway, needled Sondheim by offering the lampooning song "Into the Words". Ultimately, the audience must go through a lot of harsh reality before it can return to a modern, revisionist Happily Ever After. This production, though, is well worth the dark, winding trip through a talent-filled forest. I offer a textual standing ovation to a great director, a wonderful cast, and a marvelous crew.
Production Details:
Into the Woods Music &Lyrics
by Stephen Sondheim, Book by James Lapine
Scottsdale Community Players
Stagebrush Theatre, Scottsdale
(480) 990-7405
December 3rd - December 19th, 1999