Review: Straight from Broadway, INTO THE WOODS at Belk Theater

Into The Woods is the current revival of the 1987 musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (the author of the book). Straight from Broadway, this thought-provoking masterpiece knits together four fairytales: Cinderella; Rapunzel; Jack And The Beanstalk; and Little Red Riding Hood. Lapine and Sondheim added a modern-day twist to the Little Red Riding Hood storyline with the married couple I will refer to as The Bakers (Sebastian Arcelus and Stephanie J. Block). Mrs. Baker was barren due to a spell incantation by an evil witch (Montego Glover), who also had a spell on her that robbed her youth. The couple inquired of that evil witch as to how the curse of Mrs. Baker's infertility could be reversed. In order to break the spell off the evil witch, Mrs. Baker was ordered to bring back a "milky white" cow; a cape as red as blood; and hair as yellow as corn. The witch would in return, take the curse off of Mrs. Baker.

I send kudos to the casting director(s), this performance was perfectly cast. One of my favorite characters was "Milky White" Cow (Puppeteer Kennedy Kanagawa), from the Jack And The Beanstalk storyline. He stole the show in so many ways. Of course, he symbolizes the cow that Jack's mother (Aymee Garcia) instructed Jack (Cole Thompson) to sell in the marketplace to assist with their cost-of-living expenses. My other favorite character was Little Red Riding Hood (Katy Geraghty). She was bold, loud, obnoxious, and funny to me. I also loved the physical transformation of the witch (Montego Glover) after she was released from her curse.

We can clearly see that Sondheim's adaptation of Into The Woods is geared toward a more adult/matured audience with its "grown up" themes, instead of the imaginative and youthful Disney fairytales that we are accustomed to, with the catch phrase "And They Lived Happily Ever After". Certainly, not in this case. I felt like I was on a dramatic rollercoaster ride with "highs and lows," "peaks and valleys", and "twists and turns"...Oh My! Murders and infidelity (an affair between the prince in Cinderella (Gavin Creel) and Mrs. Baker (Stephanie J. Block) of Little Red Riding Hood unfolded center stage. There were several thought-provoking messages conveyed, some were very dismal. One that I observed was that some dreams/wishes for "a better life" could end in a disastrous nightmare. Another one, everything that appears to be good is not necessarily good for you. Sometimes, the circumstances you wish for could be your own downfall. And finally, be careful who you slay, it could affect your entire village (associations and choice of relationships matter).

Most fairytales adhere to the philosophy that "the good guys always win", yet in Into The Woods, the antagonist had a field-day. The wife of the giant is the antagonist (another modern-day twist added by Lapine and Sondheim) to avenge the death of her husband who was killed, of course, by Jack, while he was chopping down the beanstalk. This angry, "menopausal-like" female giant stepped on anyone who wandered into her path on her quest for revenge. At the end, she met her fate as she is led on a path of destruction that caused blindness and her sudden death.

In Into The Woods, there were no real heroes or winners (I'm not sure if I like that); but the melodious Broadway songs and on-point acting was a fantastic way to be entertained. I love the creativity of Sondheim and Lapine in how these fairytales were interwoven together first in a book and then into a Broadway musical and how they emphasized the commonalities each one had with each other. Based on the crowd response (cheers and claps) throughout the evening, clearly Into The Woods is a crowd-favorite and has its share of theatergoers/fans.

*Remaining performances of "Into The Woods" run from Thursday, April 13 - Sunday, April 16. Tickets can be purchased via website: http://www.blumenthalarts.org