Into the Woods

Image by Jeff Busby. 

Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods is a composite of just about every fairy tale you can think of, including Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella, magically woven together into a seamless whole, in a similar way that a ‘Complete Shakespeare in One Night’ show might be. But that’s where the similarity ends, as the outcomes of these familiar stories are twisted and turned into something entirely unexpected, suggesting that life is unpredictable and a rather jagged journey. With Freudian overtones, there is much emphasis on regret, blaming others for one’s lot and finding a scapegoat, along with a dose of good old American psychoanalysis, and Sondheim’s trademark rhyming games.

This is an ensemble piece, and the cast here is uniformly strong vocally, and word perfect. All the women are good, but experience shows, and the standout is the wonderful Witch played by Queenie van de Zandt. From her peeved and put-upon opening lines she oozes authority, and her transformation into a wartless glamour-puss is well handled, with help from a terrific costume by Harriet Oxley. In fact, all the costumes are very effective, and when the 16-strong cast fills the stage, it’s a very pleasing riot of colour.

The cast is too large to mention all by name, but the thankless task of narrator is well taken by veteran John Diedrich, who, somewhere along the way, has made the transition from leading hunk to elder statesman without anyone noticing! Christina O’Neill, stunning as Dot in last year’s Sunday in the Park with George makes a welcome return as The Baker’s Wife. Her sexy scene with Cinderella’s dashing Prince, Matthew McFarlane, is totally convincing, but I found his other role as The Wolf a little under-characterised. Young Rowan Witt is suitably appealing as the hapless Jack, and Lucy Maunder makes an appealing Cinderella. Other standouts include Melissa Langton as Jack’s Mother, always at her wit’s end, and the other dashing Prince, Jeremy Kleeman with his rich, dark- chocolate baritone.

The most moving moment for me was the ‘reconciliation’ scene in Act Two between the Baker, David Harris, and the Mysterious Man, played once again by John Diedrich.

Director Stuart Maunder handles the comedy well, and conductor Benjamin Northey traverses the rhythmic complexity and lyrical moments with ease. The ‘Woods’ set by Adam Gardnir, so central to the action, consists of arches of leafless branches in various configurations and works well, despite some occasionally clunky stage machinery. Philip Lethlean’s lighting is also very effective, as is the sound design by Jim Atkins, which renders every syllable with clarity.

At three hours, with a 90 minute first act, it’s a long show, and at times I got the feeling that Sondheim couldn’t work out how to finish it. There are also some dramatically awkward moments in the second act. My companion said half-jokingly ‘for God’s sake, just give us a tune!’ as the music does seem to play second fiddle to the endlessly clever rhymes. But there are tunes, and it makes perfect sense for an opera company to do a musically complex show such as this, so if you are a Sondheim devotee, don’t hesitate.

Victorian Opera promises us another Sondheim show next year. But which one?