Right and wrong don’t matter in the woods… only feelings. And the feeling is that Woodbrook Players has some talented vocalists appearing in their current production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods. Directed by Ron Oaks with Musical Direction by Bryan Alston, this iconic fairytale-gone-wrong musical brings all of your favorite storybook characters together to unravel their stories amid the darkness of the woods. Sondheim is a bear at the best of times (not featured in this particular woodsy setting, thank goodness) but this little company manages well enough to put some truly beautiful solo sounds to the forefront of their production and their scenery lends itself to the authentic vibe of what one might expect when going Into The Woods.
Director Ron Oaks, who doubles up as the show’s Set Designer (and assists along with a team of nearly a dozen construction-builders and painters to get the set up on its trunks) gives some basic furnishings to the setting, allowing the audience to easily delineate between the Baker’s cottage, Jack’s cottage, and Cinderella’s father’s house. Lighting Designers Andrew Nickol and Ron Zyna do a fine job of freeze-framing their three-way spotlight during the whole opening gambit, every time we jump from “household to household” and you get a lovely twilight-hued backlighting of the trees, once they come into play. Sound Designer Justin Camejo adds some flare to the production with effective bird sounds, giant rumblings, and tree-fall-crunches where appropriate. Sherry Peck’s Costumes fit the fantasy bill for this production, with Cinderella’s magical dress (as well as the gawdy looking affairs reserved for the step-family when they head off to the ball) looking extra glamorous, and the more ‘distressed’ characters— like the Baker, his wife, Jack, and Cinderella’s original garb looking much dowdier and more impoverished.
It takes a village of fairytale denizens to tell the tale and a village of hidden stage crew to keep things moving smoothly. Spearheaded by Stage Managers Rafael Regales and Richard Reichley, the crew— including Regales and Michael Boersma, Paul Norfolk, Kirby Smith, Karl Starks, and Gage Wright— keeps scene shifts rolling along swiftly, which is so crucial in a production like Into The Woods (it’s long at the best of times) and while the show does run just at three hours’ time with the intermission, you don’t really notice the passing of time because this crew runs a tight ship.
Musical Director Bryan Alston possesses magic that defies description. See the opening note about the score of a Sondheim musical being a true bear. Alston plays a singular, multifaceted keyboard and creates the sound of several instruments throughout, also adding some vamps when and where necessary. Almost like the quartet of magical ingredients that the Baker and his Wife set off into the woods to chase throughout the story, Alston spends a great deal of his time chasing and catching performers— either bringing the music’s tempo back so that they can push their way through it— like in “Your Fault”— or jumping the bar to stay on top of some of those more eager performers who get excited while singing the more effervescent lyrics. Alston is the sorcerer here— making magic happen with every plink of his keys.
Community theatre is a rare and beautiful beast that does often beg the question about casting choices, and here there are some truly unique ones and some curiously questionable ones. I’ve seen 15 different productions of Into The Woods and I’ve never seen the role of Little Red Ridinghood doubled up as Rapunzel, but Ron Oaks has done that for this performance and it works resplendently. Not only does the actress playing Little Red have the vocal capacity to take on both roles, she’s distinctive enough in her portrayal to make them perfectly individualized (even if it means some more clever stage-trickery when it comes to scenes where Rapunzel and Little Red might be back to back. It’s also worth mentioning that while the Cinderella’s Mother character is only ever seen, not heard, the same actress doubling as Rapunzel and Little Red tackles this role as well.) For such a brilliant choice as this, it does beg the question why Ron Oaks wouldn’t take the more traditional approach to casting The Wolf and Rapunzel’s Prince as the same actor, particularly when the actor playing Rapunzel’s Prince— Kirby Smith— is one of the most solid performers on the stage. As it stands, Oaks has doubled the role of Cinderella’s Father with The Wolf (both played Paul Norfolk) and this seems somewhat baffling as Norfolk reads a bit out of the appropriate range and dance capability for the wolf character.
You get simple narration to keep the story on track from Richard Reichley, who plays The Narrator. He reads from an enormous tome (compliments of Properties Team Jocelyn Taylor, Olivia Steinrock, Sherry Peck, Michael Boersma Karl Starks, Brenda Mullens) and drifts just outside of the story until he doesn’t. And you get a good dose of laughs from the ‘Step Family’— Robin Riha-Lopez as Cinderella’s Stepmother and Jeannette Dircks & Olivia Steinrock, as Florinda and Lucinda respectively. This trio of nasty ne’er-do-wells do a fine job at picking on poor Cinderella and looking garishly glorious in those intentionally hideodeous ball gowns designed for them to go to the festival. Dircks and Steinrock wear almost identical wigs, which is a clever nod to the fact that they could be each other’s evil twin.
If there’s energy to be had, it comes in the form of the seasoned performer Stephen Gaede who is generating youthful exuberance into the petulant and immature character of Jack. Often featured whining at his mother (played by Cheryl Crockett), you can enjoy some of the antics that Gaede gets up to whenever he’s fussing over Milky White or mouthing off at Little Red Ridinghood. Gaede gets a real moment to shine when he sings his big solo “Giants In The Sky” and you get a sense of his emotional capacity when he’s in duet and quartet toward the end of the performance for “No One Is Alone.”
With beautiful, solo-singing voices, both Paul Ballard and Jocelyn Taylor lend their serene sounds to the roles of Baker and Baker’s Wife respectively. Ballard’s rendition of “No More” is truly touching and really tugs at the heart string; it’s the best example of how glorious his voice sounds in this production. Watching his facial expressions, particularly when Little Red Ridinghood starts shrieking at him or the Witch starts cursing at him is also hilarious. Taylor has similar moments, particularly when she’s singing her version of “Children Will Listen” at the show’s conclusion and also when she’s singing “Moment In The Woods”, it’s quite tranquil to listen to and really soothes the mind after all the chaos that rains down on the characters come the second act. An utter surprise is The Mysterious Man (Karl Starks.) No one expects much of anything from that character except perhaps a little mischief and yet Starks makes him deeply sage, almost like a shadowy Gandolf and his voice is equally glorious when he sings, however briefly, during “No More.”
Very much channeling ‘witch’ vibes (which if you check her credits, you may start to notice a pattern…) Diana Burson does a fine job of pattering her way through her ‘Veggie-Rap’ during the seemingly unending Prologue of the show. And when she whips that stick around, you really get the sense she possesses quite a bit of magic. Her transformation from ugly to beautiful is also an impressive one and that shining blue glamor gown with the fur sleeves and trim is simply decadent, perfect for a recently transformed character. Throwing a little more into head voice than one might expect and a bit heavy-handed on the vibrato when it comes to some of the witch’s more iconic songs like “The Last Midnight” and “Children Will Listen” or “Stay With Me” you get a very consistent sound of out Burson’s witch, even if it sounds a bit too pretty for such a furious character.
Delightfully dizzy, Calla Fuqua’s Cinderella is enchanting, if at times a bit pop-modern sounding when she’s singing. “On The Steps of the Palace” had a very modernized-optioned feel to it (almost like the pop-star concert bonus track at the end of a cast recording rather than the in-show number recording) but Fuqua’s pitch control, cadence, and overall vocal delivery were extremely impressive. When singing with Little Red Ridinghood for “No One Is Alone” you get much more of that intrinsic maternal sound that floats naturally over Sondheim’s score. She and Jocelyn Taylor play quite nicely off of one another too during their various renditions of “A Very Nice Prince” and their heightened interactions end up being quite comical, in addition to Fuqua’s splendid capability to throw herself onto the ground.
Scene-stealing, show-stopping, smirking, smarmy, charming, and cocky— a tale of two princes the likes of which there never was before— Cinderella’s Prince and Rapunzel’s Prince (Gage Wright and Kirby Smith respectively) will have you chuckling and tittering and falling over yourself with laughter and enjoyment for their two duet-solos when they take the stage for “Agony” and its reprise. It becomes a battle of the hams between Wright and Smith when they first enter for “Agony” with the subtler more cheeky prince being played by Wright and the more self-assured cocky prince being played by Smith. The pair are unstoppable as they belt and boast and make wild facial expressions, engage their full bodies, and just go all out for this number. And they repeat it with gusto and fervor for “Agony (Reprise).” It’s epic. Wright, as Cinderella’s Prince, gets a tantalizing moment as well when he enchants the Baker’s Wife for “Any Moment” and it’s just a delight to see these two men at work (wishing all the more that Smith had been able to shine as the Wolf for “Hello, Little Girl.”)
Stealing the spotlight and really making the audience fall in love with her, the triple-threat, triple-character Natalie Beller (Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel, Cinderella’s Mother) is the glimmer in the woods that Sondheim’s lyrics describe in that final verse. With radiant vocal splendor that just dips through each of her characters— in a distinctive way but still very much in the highly stylized fashion of Sondheim— Beller treats the audience to vocal tenacity, character wonders, and even a little jig when playing Rapunzel. She dances fleet of foot during “Hello, Little Girl” and gives her solo, “I Know Things Now” a great deal of chutzpah and edge. There’s also a great deal of emotional depth and versatility to Beller’s Little Red Ridinghood— initially bratty and vicious but also sweet and later terribly woebegone and consumed with worry; it’s a pivotal expression and showcases the depths to which Beller can plumb a character. When she sings in quartet with Baker, Jack, and Cinderella for “No One Is Alone” she adds a stellar sound to the mix.
Dim-witted boys, hungry little girls— giants, and witches, and tales— oh my! If you are not careful, the path will stray from you. And you won’t want to stray from it— especially if it is leading you to Woodbrook Players’ production of Into The Woods this May.
Running Time: Approximately 3 hours with one intermission
Into the Woods plays on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through May 19th 2024 with the Woodbrook Players at Govans Presbyterian Church— 5828 York Road in Townson, MD. Tickets are available in advance online.
