It was a hit on Broadway in New York City and on Valentines Day the local production of “Into the Woods” opened at the Woodlawn Theatre.
It’s a curious story with several fairy tales all weaved together into one.
“Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and a few other cameos from a few other fairly tale favorites," said Woodlawn Theatre Program Director Christopher Rodriguez.
I asked how running them all together actually works out.
“[Stephen] Sondheim actually created two new characters for the show called The Baker and His Wife. And their story kind of ties everyone together,” Rodriguez said.
"Into the Woods" has been called a "fractured fairy tale musical."
"Yes, act one kind of deals with the traditional Grimm’s Fairy Tales" said Rodriguez. "It’s not the classic Disney stories. It’s more of a dark take on the original fairy tales. And act one kind of leads us up to 'happily ever after.' And act two brings us to whatever happened after 'happily ever after.' "
It’s a Sondheim musical, so Rodriguez said to expect music.
“We do have a live orchestra that’s in front of the stage for this," he said. "We have about eight people in the orchestra. The show’s very musical heavy. The actors do a really good job at bringing the characters alive with the amount of music that’s in the production.”
Although there are fairy tale characters throughout, Rodriguez said it’s not really for the youngest.
“We’re kind of billing it as a PG-13 musical,” he said.
“Into the Woods” runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., then Sundays at 3 p.m. through March 16. There are variations, including a Woodlawn Theatre youth program production of the same play.
- For more on this show visit: woodlawntheatre.com
