Into The Woods – REVIEW
Image: Esther Hannaford in INTO THE WOODS, Belvoir St Theatre. Image: Christopher Hayles
The Belvoir St Theatre’s new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods is stripped down, unplugged, no frills, relying mostly on the enormous talent of the cast, the sharpness of the script and the dedication of long-time fans for its success; and that just about gets it over the line.
Into The Woods was written in the mid 1980s, when Sondheim had already written most of his big hitters and honed the clever repartee that is his signature style. Although he has undoubtedly written some of the most beautiful melodies in the genre, Sondheim has always focused on lyrics and storytelling as the dominant elements in his songs.
That focus is evident in Into The Woods, which is high on witty banter, punchlines and sophisticated rhymes but doesn’t have a lot of hummable tunes. The book, written by James Lapine, centres on the story of a baker and his wife who are desperate to have a child and their interaction with a witch and a confluence of characters from several popular fairytales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel.
There are several plot threads interwoven and it can feel convoluted and frenetic at times. In this production many of the actors play dual roles. Scenes change quickly with lots of running-on/running-off and throw-away lines.
The Belvoir is not a big theatre nor is it known for putting on musicals. A lot of imagination and perhaps a fair bit of compromise has gone into this production with mixed results.
There’s no room for a band, so they get around that by reducing the score to a piano arrangement and putting two pianos on stage; a baby grand and an upright share a round platform that dominates the performance area. Simon Holt plays the grand and Anne-Maree McDonald plays the upright. Musically, it works well but in terms of stage design the pianos do little to evoke any sense of a fairtale land or enchanted forest.
Given there is almost nothing else in terms of set design or effects, except for an odd explosion of streamers and occasional comical props, the overall effect is that it feels a bit like a pantomime or community theatre. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and there’s a lot of self-aware humour, but it does make it hard to become more deeply invested in the story, especially when it takes a darker turn in the second half.
It’s not hard to love the performances, though. Tamsin Carroll is absolutely spectacular as the Witch. She has absorbing stage presence, great physical humour and incredible vocals. Her venerable father, Peter Carroll, is endearing and very funny as the Narrator/ Mysterious Stranger.
Shubshri Kandiah, who recently played Cinderella in the Sydney Lyric production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, reprises the role for this rather toned down version. Tim Draxl plays her prince with boisterous caricature. Draxl also plays a sleazy, menacing wolf opposite Little Red Riding Hood (played with sass by Mo Lovegrove).
Marty Alix is the wide-eyed, naïve Jack as well as the ruthless Royal Steward. Jack’s long-suffering, doing-her-best Mother is Lena Cruz. Stefanie Caccamo brings her heavenly vocals to Rapunzel and Florinda (an ugly sister). Andrew Coshan straddles gender as Rapunzel’s prince and Lucinda (other ugly sister).
Justin Smith and Esther Hannaford are the couple at the centre of the story. Smith plays the Baker as simple, earnest, a bit of a bloke, maybe a tad chauvinistic. Hannaford is engaging as his wife; smarter, hungrier for life.
The show is in two very distinct halves, with a deceptive, classic “happy ending” in the first half, and a sometimes abrasive, cynical, sobering second half.
A few fun surprises and spectacular performances help balance some of the shortcomings in the set.
