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NEW YORK – The brilliant new renaissance of “Into the Woods” is presented in such a harmonious and meticulous way that you will swear that you even hear the punctuation marks of the letter. Here at St. James Theater, where the musical had its official opening on Broadway Sunday night, the memory of the late Stephen Sondheim is honored in the best way possible: by actors who really know how to sing and singers who really know how to sing. Act.
All have been encouraged by an inspired director, Lear deBessonet, to bring bravery. This impulse on other occasions could tilt the theatrical arch towards the camp. But for the musical comedy brand Sondheim and book writer James Lapine were looking for, a world of out-of-control anxiety tales, a little personal dazzle is absolutely the right path.
One after another, the members of the exceptional cast — Sara Bareilles, Phillipa Soo, Gavin Creel, Patina Miller, Brian d’Arcy James, Joshua Henry, among others — add new fun twists to the fairy-tale characters. old and completely new. . No one is up to the task of this special occasion, the transfer to Broadway of a concert version that originated earlier this year in the long-running Encores series at City Center, the institution that the revival of more than 10,000 “Chicago” shows was born. . ”
If you’ve never been to a production of “Into the Woods,” which premiered on Broadway in 1987, this would be the perfect place to start. If you have it, this would be the perfect place to renew the acquaintance. The physical format is basic: an orchestra on stage with more than a dozen forces, conducted by Rob Berman, that communicates the whimsical texture of Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations; a simple set design by David Rockwell, with platforms in front and behind the band, and birches coming down for forest missions, and shining with Tyler Micoleau lighting while a giant makes the kingdom sound; and a cast, ingeniously disguised by Andrea Hood, which presents with verve the lines of Lapine and the score of Sondheim.
The show lists two sound designers, Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann, who feel especially right, because the clarity with which Sondheim’s lyrics reach our ears is perhaps double the norm. Have you ever experienced what I call audible fatigue in theater: the feeling of exhausted defeat that sets in when you lose half of your words in problems of musical amplification or confusing vocal performance? In St. James the opposite happens: Sondheim’s poetry is conveyed in an inspiring way, down to the last syllable of the recited rhyme.
“Into the Woods” is one of the most well-known and most frequently performed musicals in the Sondheim canon, but it’s a family show only if you then want to explain some of the complexities of life to the little ones. Lapine and Sondheim design a realm of wishers: a childless baker (of Arcy James) and his wife (Bareilles); a brutalized Cinderella (Soo); a moneyless housewife (Aymee Garcia) and her son, Jack, of “Beanstalk” fame (Cole Thompson); an aged witch (Miller) who lives under a curse. The writers tie almost everything together in a beautiful loop when the wish list is filled at the end of Act 1; then cut the bow into pieces in act 2.
No one comes out unscathed. “Desires can lead to problems such that you regret them,” says the first act of the second act, “better that, however, than never to achieve them.” History follows our universal passage from childhood to adulthood. They expel us from the land of the imagination and plunge us into a world of tragic consequences. As the kingdom unfolds, besieged by this vengeful giant (Annie Golden), the characters die, confront each other, and become increasingly confused. Life is an enigma, but it’s not always fun.
The final sequences of the show have been forced into a curious and not entirely persuasive morality; again, a mess of things can end up being the best we mortals can expect. Still, Lapine and Sondheim create so many hugging characters, and the score is so charming, that any worries about the plot become minor. And that’s especially true in a version of “Into the Woods” that has nothing but champions. Bareilles, for example, is as natural as Baker’s Wife: the performance is warm and effortlessly fun, an embodiment of the independent mindset and humility that characterize the best of us.
Creel, in the traditional double role of the Wolf and the Cinderella Prince, summons his inner ham with a comic virtuosity totally in the oven; “Agony” and its repetition, both sung with Rapunzel’s Prince, played by a deliciously self-adoring Henry, are the best I’ve ever heard. They belong to a “Into the Woods” Hall of Fame along with Julia Lester, as a very safe, coarse, and prepared Little Red Riding Hood; Soo, breathing an unbridled charm into a melliflua cinderella; and Miller, singing “Stay With Me” sweetly and yet maintaining the air of threatening authority of the Witch.
The Cinderella entourage (Nancy Opel as the stepmother, plus Brooke Ishibashi, Ta’Nika Gibson, David Turner and Albert Guerzon) is a live side show, and David Patrick Kelly is an inspired choice as a narrator and mysterious man. Also worth mentioning are two outstanding accessories: the imposing oversized footwear of the Giant and, more importantly, Milky White as an excited puppet cow, hilariously interpreted in my performance by Cameron Johnson. It should be noted that if the Tony Awards ever split the performance categories into dairy and non-dairy products, Milky White would be a moo-in.
The final applause belongs to the composer, who died in November, but whose memory permeates every scene. “Sometimes people leave you halfway through the forest. Don’t let it hurt you. No one is leaving forever, ”says the lyrics to“ No One Is Alone. ”Sondheim has certainly not left for good.
In the forest, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine. Directed by Lear de Bessonet. Musical direction, Rob Berman; choreography, Lorin Latarro; orchestrations, Jonathan Tunick; ensemble, David Rockwell; wardrobe, Andrea Hood; lighting, Tyler Micoleau; so, Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann. About 2 hours 45 minutes. Al St. James Theater, 246 W. 44th St., New York. intothewoodsbway.com.