“Into the Woods” brings us into fairy tales in new ways—by going back to the old
Opening this weekend, Circle Theatre takes on the much-loved Sondheim musical, combining references to Grimm’s original — well, grim — fairy tales with modern touches like selfies and scooters. Our members snuck into dress rehearsal on Tuesday.
This weekend, as Circle Theatre opens “Into the Woods” for a run through May 19, the Wolf will try to eat Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. The wicked stepsisters will try to fit their feet into slippers to win a prince, cheating their way into happily ever after. Rapunzel will throw her hair down; Jack will grow a beanstalk; the baker and his wife will do anything to be able to have a child.
But also: the wolf will be sliced open so Grandmother and Little Red can climb out and Little Red can ride off on her Micro scooter. The stepsisters can’t stop taking selfies except for when they’re getting toes sliced off by their mother to fit their feet into the slipper. Rapunzel screams hysterically, having a breakdown as she tries to deal with a childhood of being locked in a tower by her mother, a wicked witch.
The Prince doesn’t provide happily ever after, after all. He cheats on his wife, a predator if you will (foreshadowed by the same actor playing the wolf). Everyone in all the land knows of his philandering. Even the baker’s wife, so intent on having a baby for her happy home, wanders off into the woods for, um, a “moment.”
This is not fairy tales for children.
Before it opens to the public, our members got to sneak in for a dress rehearsal on Tuesday night.
“‘Into the Woods’ at Circle Theatre! Laugh, cry, stand up and applaud,” urged culturedGR member Wendy Marty. “Open your summer show season with Sondheim.”
No mistake, opening a season with Sondheim is a big risk. People love this musical. They have fond memories of their first time seeing it on Broadway—or when it was at Circle back in 1992. So it’s a good thing the lead role of the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince is brought to life so vibrantly by Derek Call. He draws us in, believable even as a wolf hungry for flesh.
His duets with Rapunzel’s Prince (Michael Stewart) as they sing about their “Agony” (read: philandering desires) captures our attention. In fact much of the solos and special numbers, by multiple characters, wows us. The witch, Rapunzel’s mother (Kelly Carey) brings another stellar performance, giving us just the smallest glimmers of a reminder that there is a mother worried about protecting her daughter behind all the evil actions.
The comedic quality of the Wicked Stepmother (Liz Brand) and the self-absorbed Wicked Stepsisters Florinda (Sommer Cain) and Lucinda (Jenna Pope) are delightfully ridiculous—the moments when they’re absolutely over the top, not holding back on that ridiculousness, are the best. I want more of those moments.
In fact, that’s an important theme in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s now-classic tale: moments. What will we give, what will we compromise, for moments? Are those new experiences and things we learn—are they worth it? Are they enough? Is happily ever after even possible?
“What if the foundational myths of your society were repackaged as children’s stories when another belief system (Christianity) took over, and what if those stories (Grimm’s Fairy Tales) still could be unpacked and tell the truth of power between men and women?” asked culturedGR member and photographer Eric Bouwens. “Men’s power to charm and devour, and women’s power to know the secrets of bearing children and fertility? Into the Woods dares to step out of the plasticized Disneyfication of these powerful stories and re-imagine the conflicts of men and women trying to survive in a dangerous and cruel world.”
Well, I don’t want to give away too much of the plot for those who haven’t yet formed their own memories of this classic musical so I’ll just say this: too often, our happy lives and all those dreams get, um… they get “trampled.”
Which makes all the more reasons for “Into the Woods” to have become such a classic. Because honestly, the reason fairy tales—the whitewashed versions we now read to our children, that is—aren’t realistic. Life isn’t like that. We get trampled just as often as we get wonderful moments. We risk and we learn things we later wish we hadn’t. But life is also beautiful and it makes us laugh and sometimes we do get what we ask for, despite all of our failings. The trick, as our characters learn in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” is to not let constant yearning for even more ruin the beautiful bits we do have.
Circle Theatre’s “Into the Woods”
May 3-5, 9-12, 16-19 at 7:30 p.m.; May 13 at 5 p.m.
1703 Robinson Road SE
Tickets available here.
This musical is rated PG-13 for adultery, death, and mild violence.
