Into The Woods

An enchanting stroll through the woods

INTO The Woods is a triumph, a departure from the normal rock’n’roll beat which emanates from Highgate village at this time of year, but nevertheless still a triumph.

It’s built on hard work, a talented cast assembled at Upstairs At The Gatehouse and a bit of magic from the master lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who created this wonderful – albeit complicated – meeting of fairytales.

Nowhere else but in this misty world of woods, palaces and turrets (all above a pub at the village crossroads) will you find Little Red Riding Hood shaking hands with Jack from Jack And The Beanstalk and Cinderella trading exchanges with Rapunzel.

Throw in a witch scary enough to give the kids in the front row a fright or two, some magic beans and Paul Nicholas (Vince from Just Good Friends) appearing as a hologram narrator – and what more could you want?
Some decent songs?

There are those too, although this show isn’t about knockout numbers. Instead, the craft is in the effortless lyrics which zip from one witty line to another before you can catch breath. It’s a wonder that not a word was missed as a series of plots and sub plots meld into one.

Shimi Goodman and Alexander Branford shine as two campy comedy princes. Dominic Brewer excels as The Baker in search of ingredients for a mystic brew, perhaps only outdone by Rachel Bingham as The Baker’s Wife, who captures the puzzling world these characters are mischievously thrown into by Sondheim. She was marvellous.

This is the seventh seasonal musical in a row I’ve seen at this theatre, and there is a reason I keep going back. It’s usually rock’n’roll thrills but a more sedate stroll into the woods was just as absorbing.

Into the Gatehouse for a musical delight.

With lyrics bursting with wit and wisdom, a delightful operatic score and an alternative treatment to the schmaltzy tales that inspire the usual seasonal fayre filling theatres at this time of the year, Into The Woods makes a welcome London appearance Upstairs at The Gatehouse.

On the surface James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece deals with fairytale people such as Jack, who sells his cow, Cinderella, with all her family problems and Rapunzel: “High in her tower, she sits by the hour, Maintaining her hair.” However Into The Woods is so much more than that. Well-developed characters, hilarious situations deconstructed from popular stories and music that is some of Sondheim’s finest, go hand in hand with love, betrayal, murder and tragedy, while beneath it all is a cornucopia of Sondheim/ Lapine wisdom that could replace a shelf full of self-help books – and actually be of help.

At The Gatehouse, director Racky Plews has again created some thoroughly entertaining musical theatre, with Rachel Bingham’s Baker’s Wife, Emma Odell’s Cinderella, Daniel Summer’s Jack and Dominic Brewer’s Baker all exceptional, all delivering on Sondheim’s exacting and delightful score, along with a remarkably feisty and perky Little Red Riding Hood, stuffing her face with cakes while lighting up the murk. Alexander Bradford and Shimi Goodman, who double as Cinderella’s sisters, are every bit the dashingly vain and charmingly hilarious Princes.

Designer Stephie Hoyle, working for the first time at The Gatehouse, has created a fantastically dark and gloomy Wood which includes a screen, allowing the cast to merge, Brief Encounter style, with projections of the set and themselves, as well as a video of narrator Paul Nicholas, who bends and shimmers, unnervingly wraithlike.

Upstairs at the Gatehouse always manages to stage engaging and enjoyable fringe theatre and Into The Woods is utterly magical. A wonderful, edgy alternative to the traditional seasonal shows.

The annual Gatehouse Christmas musical has notched up an impressive decade-long pedigree of providing one of the most cheerful and best-produced of all seasonal shows, but for its 11th show this year, it takes an altogether darker and more ambitious turn with Sondheim’s deceptively non-traditional 1987 take on popular fairy tales Into the Woods.
It may contain a line-up of some of panto’s most beloved characters, from Jack and the Beanstalk to Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but producing it at Christmas – and with a publicity poster image of a shimmering sliver shoe in the foreground of a castle, within a sepia-tinted mirror frame – could be more than a little misleading for audiences seeking light Christmas relief.

Director Racky Plews tries to have it both ways, introducing a pantomimic element by having Cinderella’s stepsisters Lucinda and Florinda played by men in drag – yet the actors concerned, Alexander Bradford and Shimi Goodman, also double up as Cinderella’s Prince and Rapunzel’s Prince respectively, taking Sondheim and Lapine’s parable of twisted family and sexual relationships one step further than even they intended.

The production also resourcefully seeks to combine two recent approaches to Sondheim – the introduction of film and live animation beside the onstage action and the use of several actors who double up as musicians (with five of them supplementing a live band of four players).

The film proves a nifty way of allowing Paul Nicholas – who is, in fact, in panto at Wolverhampton this year – to make a double appearance here as twinkling narrator and Fagin-like Mysterious Man. It cleverly complements Stephanie Hoyle’s impressive design.

The onstage actor/musicians, which include Emma Odell’s Cinderella doubling up on flute, Cinderella’s mother Alice Keedwell on clarinet and Jack’s mother Holly Aisbitt on violin, provide welcome additional musical texture to Sondheim’s bracing and melodic score.

Dominic Brewer’s Baker and Rachel Bingham as his wife offer a touching portrait of a couple discovering that it will take two, in every sense, to realise their ambitions to have a child, and bring both vigour and rigour to their singing as they do so.

****
There’s nothing remotely traditional about this pantomimic riff from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. A clutch of familiar fairytale characters arrive, only to implode in the narrative swirl of these deeply deceptive, metadramatic woods. Cinderella, it transpires, is less taken with the prince than with the palace. Jack deeply regrets his actions up the beanstalk. And Rapunzel finds herself, upon being freed from her tower, in desperate need of a good therapist. Even the narrator isn’t safe from Sondheim and Lapine’s persistently ironic experiment with form.
Racky Plews’s ebullient, rough-and-ready production adds some twists of its own to this already labyrinthine tale. Casting Alexander Bradford and the gloriously laconic Shimi Goodman as the ugly sisters in drag lends comic Christmas bite to Cinderella’s story, as does doubling them up as a pair of hilariously fey princes. Elsewhere, Plews’s inventive economising also pays dramatic dividends, the four-strong band being ably supplemented on stage by an instrument wielding cast. Dominic Brewer and Rachel Bingham are supremely accomplished as the childless baker and his wife, as they attempt to navigate an antique gender dynamic with a modern moral compass. Sondheim’s almost perversely prolix score occasionally runs away from the cast, and relaying Paul Nicholas’s arch narrator through technically wayward video falls flat as a device. But this bumptious, neatly designed production provides unconventional, sweetly mocking, but distinctly seasonal fare.

Can the beans ever justify the ends? It’s a question you might ask of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1987 fairytale musical for adults, which has Jack and his cow, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and others running wild in the dark woods of the subconscious. A first half in which the Baker and his wife are sent by a wicked witch into the woods on a scavenger hunt, which if completed will lift the curse of their infertility, appears to end with a flurry of happy ever afters.
But the price of individual happiness versus the good of the community becomes the theme in a contrasting second act, in which Jack’s beanstalk brings a marauding giant into the village, Cinderella’s Prince turns out to be a lech, Rapunzel goes mad, and lives are abruptly terminated. Sondheim and Lapine wag their finger rather forcefully, but with musical ingenuity, as they tell us we must be careful what we wish for.

The lurch from romp to morality tale is hard to pull off, and the first mistake here is a design that suggests the woods have a geographical location when in fact they are, of course, a state of mind. The second is to have Paul Nicholas playing the narrator on video, a device that was hit by a technical glitch on the night I was there. One of the pleasures of Upstairs at the Gatehouse is the chance to see young musical performers getting a bite at the big roles, and Dominic Brewer and Rachel Bingham as the Baker and his Wife take the biscuit for doing full justice to Sondheim’s alternately jaunty and haunting score.

****
The Baker and the Baker’s Wife are desperate to have a child and enlist the help of an old crone who turns out to be a witch. She promises to help if they collect four items for her.
You see, she is really young and beautiful and is under a spell which can only be broken by these four objects — namely Cinderella’s slipper, Red Riding Hood’s cloak, a lock of Rapunzel’s yellow hair and the milk white cow belonging to Jack of Beanstalk fame.
Stephen Sondheim has landed us in a Grimm brothers’ Pantoland — and these characters all come to life in front of your eyes. They also have dearest dreams to fulfill. Jack wants to be rich, Cinderella and Rapunzel are looking for their handsome Princes and Red Riding Hood craves adventure.
Luckily, there are a couple of Princes hovering about, bounding on and off and longing for romance, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack all meet up in Upstairs at the Gatehouse’s clever production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods

a sexy tap dancing wolf lying in wait for Red and, of course, Jack finds pots of gold on top of his beanstalk. All ends happily — but we are only half way through!
What happens after Happy Ever After? Can it be true that to get your heart’s desire is the greatest punishment on earth? Defying Jack’s remark that “if the end is right it justifies the beans”, Sondheim is not averse to the occasional pun!

As always, the production values at tine Gatehouse are stunning and there are fascinating and ingenious technical effects. Not the least being the virtual presence of Paul Nicholas throughout the play as the narrator — especially surprising as he is currently appearing as Hook in Wolverhampton.

Other characters appear on the backcloth and perform with themselves which makes it easy for doubling as in the two bounding princes who also play Uglies. Mr and Mrs Baker are endearing principals and I fell in love with the idiotic Princes, the naughty Red and the glamorous witch.
Sadly, cuts are not allowed and it is 20 minutes too long.
Nevertheless congratulations to Racky Plews on her direction and the technical team. A true coup de theatre.

IN A MUSICAL world where fairy tales go wrong, traditional stories are interlinked with unexpected consequences.
Red Riding Hood gets her Granny’s provisions from the Baker whose neighbour is a witch who is Rapunzel’s mother whose Prince is the brother of Prince Charming… and don’t even ask about the magic beans, Jack or the Giant’s wife!

Attractive design creates overtones of the Brothers Grimm and suggests more than your average fairy story, as flora and fauna also overspill into the auditorium to set the scene.

The intimate atmosphere provides the ideal environment for Stephen Sondheim’s storytelling and wordplay.

In an ensemble piece this talented cast, many of whom are also playing musical instruments, bring a buzz and energy which more than match the ambitious use of projections to double up characters.

Paul Nicholas, the narrator, appears as a projection only – the man himself is in the Wolverhampton panto!

Particularly memorable moments are a tap routine by a feisty Lauren Appleby as Red Riding Hood and a wonderfully cool-as-a-cucumber wolf performed by Shimi Goodman, who later appears as both a Prince and Ugly Sister.

Performances by Emma Odell as Cinderella and Dominic Brewer as the Baker stand out in this inventive production which should give Sondheim fans something to think about and those seeking an alternative to traditional panto a stimulating night out.

“The Trees Are Just Wood”

Stephen Sondheim is one of the strongest dramatists of our age. The fun, pathos, intelligence and humour in each of his musicals is unparalleled by his peers. But, the one ingredient Sondheim has above so many new musicals is class. It is, therefore, not surprising he is so often revived by young ambitious theatre makers.

Into the Woods, currently being performed Upstairs at the Gatehouse, is a slick and ambitious production. Directed confidently by Racky Plews the production joins the queue in an slowly growing list of stunning Sondheim micro-revivals along with the likes of the Union’s Sweeney Todd and the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Sunday in the Park with George.

Sondheim is often accused of being too clever and it is true that when working with James Lupine, who wrote the book for both Into The Woods and Sunday in the Park with George, he is at his boldest. As with the afore mention work, it is the difficult second half that poses the biggest problem.

At the interval my companion turned to me thinking the show was over – and why not? Everything is resolved and do we really need the second act? Well, yes and no. The post interval virtues are less accessible than the more familiar sentiment of the first half. Luckily, many of the outstanding performances in Plew’s production act like salt to the material – bringing more flavour and emotion from the second half than other productions have previously achieved.

The set is an ingenious combination of projection, small tunnels and a facade that seeps its way into the audience which makes the playing space look deceptively large. Lighting design was spot on too and with some subtle touches often lacking in Fringe pieces.

Overall, it’s the best musical I’ve seen this festive season – and I’ve probably seen a few too many – and the question remains: could this show transfer and receive the same level of acclaim a more West End centric venue can offer?

We can only hope so.

A classy production through and through.

Sondheim and Lapine’s musical tells the story of a childless baker and his wife, who finding out that a curse was placed upon them to keep them barren, set off Into the Woods to find the four things the Wicked Witch needs to un-break the spell. Whilst in the woods we encounter several familiar faces from some of the best loved fairytales but this is where any familiarities end, instead we are cleverly shown the unpleasant character traits that these well known characters possess, and in the end, their greed for wanting more in life than they have is inevitably each of their downfalls.

Racky Plews directs this small revival with real heart and character far more so than the recent lavish and overly expensive production at the Royal Opera House. Plews gives this production a real comedic flair with some splendid touches, the bird on the flute is one perfect example, helped along the way with some creative and ingenious use of video projection (designed by Martin Walton) throughout the performance.

A simple but hugely atmospheric set by Stephie Hoyle, who after seeing her set of Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi you know you will get a design that has been well thought out and true to the nature of the piece, and that’s just what you get with the set of Into the Woods with subtly atmospheric lighting by Howard Hudson this show is a visual treat. Commanding the stage in this production is Dominic Brewer (Baker) and Rachel Bingham (Bakers Wife) who really steal the show as the childless couple, belting out their songs with a powerful and emotional resonance. Lauren Appleby’s Red Riding Hood is a simple joy to watch and brings a highly energised and slightly menacing performance, with other notable turn coming from Daniel Summers as the simple but ever so endearing Jack.

If one was to find fault with this production it would be the use of the cast playing instruments on stage, this was never fully explored unlike The Watermill’s production of recent West End production of Sunset Boulevard, but this is a small niggle in what otherwise is a splendid production

One would suggest that if you are looking for a production to see over the next two weeks then book yourself a ticket to this production, it will take you a long time to find a musical in the London that has this much magic and charm.

Into The Woods is an ensemble show that corrals the stock characters of fairy tale into a single narrative. Rapunzel (the admirable Alice Keedwell), Cinderella (Emma Odell), Red Riding Hood (Lauren Appleby) and the rest all cross the path of a childless Baker and his wife (Dominic Brewer and Rachel Bingham, both excellent) as they attempt to do the bidding of a boo-hiss Witch (Susan Kyd) and thereby reverse the spell that caused their barrenness
This Gatehouse production may not sizzle, but it certainly simmers nicely for the best part of three hours. Racky Plews directs with an inventive eye for comic potential and she marshals a gifted cast of eleven (twelve if you count Paul Nicholas’s pre-recorded Narrator) to great effect within her limited space. Lighting and design are nicely moody, the band is sprightly and the droll use of technology is a visual delight.

It was a splendid idea to double the Princes with the Ugly Sisters, the more so as they’re played by such a versatile pair of mezzo-baritones as Shimi Goodman and Alexander Bradford. Goodman in particular steals every scene he’s in, and by the time he’s added a sumptuous cameo as a big, bad-ass wolf he has the whole show – and the audience – in his pocket.