Somewhere between “once upon
a time” and “happily ever after,” the Brothers Grimm created a boatload of
fairy tales that were dark and mysterious and gave us goose bumps and nightmares
in equal installments. Stephen
Sondheim and James Lapine have taken all these intriguing plots and woven them
into a clever and imaginative cauldron of tasty soup entitled “Into the Woods.”
The Westport Country
Playhouse is celebrating the musical’s twenty-fifth anniversary with a splendid
production stuffed with your favorite fairy tale characters until Saturday, May
26.
There’s no need to don Little
Red Ridinghood’s red cape or Cinderella’s glass slipper or Rapunzel’s long
yellow hair or climb Jack’s infamous Beanstalk, unless you want to help the
Baker and his wife (Erik Liberman and Danielle Ferland) in their quest to have
a child.
Old ago a Witch (Lauren
Kennedy) had a curse placed upon her and in order for it to be lifted, the
Baker and his wife must bring her, in three days’ time, a cape red as blood,
hair yellow as corn, a cow white as milk and a slipper pure as gold. So they set off “into the woods” to
make their dream come true.
In the forest, they meet a
devoted son Jack (Justin Scott Brown) who has been sent by his mother (Cheryl
Stern) to sell Milky White, his beloved cow, so they can have money to buy
food, a feisty and determined Little Red Ridinghood (Dana Steingold) who is off
to visit her granny (Alma Cuervo) but meets a wolf (Nik Walker) instead,
Cinderella (Jenny Latimer) who has escaped her wicked stepmother (Alma Cuervo)
and stepsisters (Eleni Delopoulos and Nikka Graff Lanzarone) to go to the
prince’s ball and Rapunzel (Britney Coleman) who has been imprisoned in a
tower. Toss in a pair of handsome
charming but insincere princes (Robert Lenzi and Nik Walker), a mysterious man
(Jeremy Lawrence) and a narrator (Jeffry Denman) who tries to orchestrate the
action and you have all the ingredients for a fulfilling and satisfying evening
of theater.
Mark Lamos directs this fine
cast on this flight of fancy in fabulous style, in association with Baltimore’s
CENTERSTAGE, on a lovely set designed by Allen Moyer and colorful costumes by
Candice Donnelly.
For tickets ($30 and up),
call Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off route 1, Westport at
888-927-7529 or 203-227-4177 or online at www.westportplayhouse.org. Performances are Tuesday at 8 p.m.,
Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3
p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
An interesting note is that Stephen Sondheim was an intern at the
playhouse sixty-two years ago.
Heartfelt wishes and witch’s
curses, magic beans and wolfish fiends, angry giants and a community’s
defiance, “Into the Wood” has them all in fantastic and fanciful abundance.
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