Into The Woods

I don’t like Sondheim – sorry – or this particular musical. When you’ve heard a tremulous, "Oh, the prince?" for the fourteenth time, its hard not to shout, "Yes the fucking prince Cinders, of course the prince, was there another reason you’re running shoeless into the woods into the woods into the woooods?"

However, in this production there were a number of performances lighting the way through the forest of monorhyme. Jennifer Gould got everyone laughing in a sadly small role of Jack’s mother. It would have been refreshing to see her more: she was possibly a casualty of the theatrical surgery that had been performed. For the cow wasn’t the only thing to lose its head – nearly the entire second act went – which in my opinion, improved it. Not only did it better satisfy fans of happy endings, but reducing the running time also meant it tripped by at a reasonable length. And if we believe the Baker’s wife: "if the end is right it justifies the beans." Whatever that means.

Mark Linford’s initial stumbling gave way to a superb and moving second act. Oskar McCarthy and Ellie Brindle were clearly in their element: McCarthy hilarious both as creepy predator and sinister old man; Brindle as the tracksuited and blinged-up Witch, whose more tedious talking-over-music bits were perked up in an inspired decision to rap her way through them. The typically creative costumes of the Wolf and the Witch were an unfortunate foil for audience’s black tie. Such formality raised expectations rather a little too high, but at one night only, it needed to feel special. Even without bow ties, the two prince’s hamming brilliantly through ‘Agony’ would ensure that it did.

Many of the funnier lines were lost beneath the band, which at least gave the opportunity to those really breathtaking singers, Anna Matthew to name but one, to impress us through the undergrowth and flutter her way out of the woods. When it could be heard this was great fun (despite Sondheim).

Comments