Writers Theatre Presents INTO THE WOODS Review

Stephen Sondheim’s musical, riffing on traditional fairy tales, is all about what humans can build, here on earth and in our minds. Directed by Gary Griffin and designed by Scott Davis, this revival of INTO THE WOODS brings a sweeping circularity to the tale of a baker and his wife who wish “more than anything” to have a child. Intersecting with familiar faces from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel, the Baker and the Baker’s Wife venture into the dark, unpredictable woods to pursue this goal.

Wishes go round and round at Writers Theatre

Fundamental wishes – for children, for wealth, for freedom, for love – express themselves in the magical ways of fairy tales. The characters’ specific quests for happiness involve witches’ spells and giants in the sky, golden eggs and talking spirits. Round and round these characters go, picking up energy with each perambulation. They also pick up complications, some of their own doing and others the result of fate.

As delicate forest greenery made of yarn hangs high above the playing area, INTO THE WOODS’ ensemble performs with a simplicity that allows the richness of Sondheim’s score and James Lapine’s book to emerge. In this reviewer’s estimation, the actors balance the script’s philosophical depth with its light humor. Without a single line of dialogue, Mary Poole, as Jack’s old cow Milky White, expresses a vast range of emotions. Plodding along hilariously on a wooden walker with a fanny-pack udder strapped to the front, she reminds us that the elderly are just as full of feeling as the younger folks around them.

INTO THE WOODS’ multiple themes

Sondheim and Lapine weave multiple critical themes into their story and this production – narrated by Writers Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam -- realizes them beautifully. Michael Mahler and Brianna Borger as the Baker and Baker’s Wife are a warring, loving, evolving couple from start to finish. Ximone Rose’s Cinderella is nobody’s fool and Ryan McBride as her self-absorbed Prince eventually acquires a scrap of self-knowledge. For this viewer, Bethany Thomas as the Witch and Lucy Godinez as Little Red push a bit too hard in their respective roles. Nonetheless, the cast functions as a satisfying unit.

With the audience and actors confronting each other on all sides, the show’s central message hits hard. Intense desires may fuel our existence but when we satisfy those desires, what comes next? Does making a potent wish come true also make us happy? Act I gives us separate stories that intersect and connect with each other. Act II transforms these individual quests into a shared response to danger and loss, underscoring Sondheim’s lyrical statement, “no one is alone.” When the wishes of our imagination meet the reality of our actual lives, we can choose whether or not to add meaning to our own jagged journeys.