"Into the Woods"

July 7, 2022 — In the roughly dozen years I've been traveling to the Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, New Hampshire, to attend their consistently excellent live performances, "Into the Woods" was the biggest, most ambitious production I can ever remember seeing at this theater. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, the musical won three major Tony awards on Broadway in 1987. Clayton Phillips directed and choreographed this production for the Barnstormers. Bret Silverman was music director. The excellent scenic design was by Jonathan Dahm Robertson and Jose Avendano designed props. Truly stunning costume design was achieved by Patty Hatch Hibbert.

Full disclosure: I am not generally a Stephen Sondheim fan, even though he wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, "Send in the Clowns." That fact might color my review of this excellent production with  its cast of seventeen highly talented singers and actors. Great voices, fine direction, superb stagecraft, costumes and the Barnstormers' new sound system came together for one of the best New Hampshire summer theater experiences of the past several years. My issues are with Sondheim's songs which simply don't match my musical taste (except for the aforementioned), flawed though my taste may be, and some elements of the plot.

"Into the Woods" brings together several of Grimm's individual fairy tales in one story line. Among them are Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and others. The baker and his wife wish for a child but a witch's curse prevents it. Jack wishes his cow would give milk. Cinderella wishes her abusive stepsister would allow her to go to the ball. Jack's mother wishes for wealth. Red Riding Hood wishes for treats to bring to her grandmother. The characters are sent on a search of the woods by the witch to retrieve certain items that may or may not allow them to realize their wishes. The first act is filled with their misadventures in the woods, all set to Sondheim's music.

In the second act, "be careful what you wish for" could be the important lesson to be learned. The outcome of their bargain with the witch results in disaster, in a few cases tragedy, for some of the characters. The fate of some of these characters is rather jarring to the audience. However, I found the songs more appealing in Act 2.

Michael Ursua and Mary McNulty as the baker and his wife were the leads. Cheryl Mullings, a frequent Barnstormers performer and one of my favorites, played the witch in a terrific costume that hid her face in a brilliantly designed witch's mask, until she loses her powers and her natural face is revealed. Her powerful voice filled the theater with several of the show's best songs. The other fourteen cast members represented the finest assemblage of talent I've seen in a New Hampshire summer theater performance in quite some time.

Should you see "Into the Woods" if it comes your way? Absolutely! My review is my personal opinion and my opinion alone. Stephen Sondheim was one of America's finest composers and had the success and awards to prove it, my opinion notwithstanding.