Wednesday, January 8, 1997
THEATER:
Broadway play captivates audiences of all
ages through the use of music, acting, wit and humorBy Cheryl
Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Though fairy tales began as grown-up entertainment (in the days
before TV) and were often quite dark and/or sophisticated,
somewhere along the way they evolved into smiley stories for
children with convenient morals at the end.
The great thing about Stephen Sondheim’s "Into the Woods" is
that it combines the best elements of both: the music and magic of
childhood with humor and subtle observations that adults can
appreciate. And the talented Interact Theatre Co. has captured this
lighthearted mood well in their small production, which runs
through March 2.
The musical weaves together five classic fairy tales: Jack and
the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel and the
slightly less familiar story of a baker and his wife who are
desperate to have a child. When a witch (the same one who holds
Rapunzel prisoner in her tower) tells the couple she can bring an
end to their curse of infertility, they venture into the woods in
search of the four ingredients she demands: a cow as white as milk,
a cape as red as blood, a slipper as bright as gold and hair as
yellow as corn. It is easy to see how this little shopping list
will quickly bring the characters together.
Like the baker and his wife, the others have all gone into the
woods to search for something, though for some it is in a much more
accidental or abstract sense. The cast conveys this pursuit of
happiness with success. Rapunzel’s (Sione Owen) facial contortions
let us know that she finds it tiring (not to mention painful) to
let her mother and only her mother climb her hair, and Zooey
Deschanel’s humorously naive (and occasionally bratty) Red Riding
Hood hints that as scary as it is to stray from the path of
convention, it is also pretty exciting.
If there is a lesson in "Into the Woods," it is that happily
ever after can get boring and that half of what makes Prince
Charming so charming is his unreachability. "Into the Woods" is
full of these small lessons and moments. As the baker’s wife points
out, "If life were only moments, you’d never know you’d had
one."
But at the same time, the play pokes fun at traditional fairy
tale morals. Both acts close with everyone singing at once,
bombarding the audience with an incomprehensible jumble of one-line
lessons. It is this humor  both wit and slapstick  that
make this production memorable.
Just as the fairy tales laugh at themselves, Interact makes a
small set budget funny. One running gag is Jack’s cow as white as
milk. The delightfully dim Jack (Michael Weiner) is extremely
devoted to his bovine pal, played by a three foot piece of
cow-shaped wood. The special effects of Milky White’s eventual
death consist of the actor standing closest to the cow giving it a
push and letting it clatter to the ground.
Equally funny are the two princes (Cinderella’s and Rapunzel’s),
played by Matthew Ashford and Don Fischer. Both are dashing,
charming and incredibly shallow. They leap rather than walk and, in
the spirit of the fairy tale ideal, are "charming, not sincere."
Ashford, however, proves his versatility when he also plays the
genuinely creepy, bare-chested wolf who lures Red Riding Hood.
Though "Into the Woods" is song-heavy, the value of Interact’s
production lies more in the acting than the singing. Few voices
stand out and the single piano accompaniment may make audiences
long for a Broadway-style orchestra. One cast member even had
laryngitis in the pre-Christmas run, but hopefully the holiday
break gave him time to rest his vocal cords.
Nevertheless, certain songs do strengthen the production. The
title song initially reels us in and in the second act, "Your
Fault" would be a perfect anthem for the lawsuit frenzy of the
’90s. In it, Jack, the baker, Little Red Riding Hood, the witch and
Cinderella all fire ever-changing accusations as to who’s to blame
for a giant terrorizing the neighborhood.
Another musical treat is "Our Little World," a humorous and
heart-wrenching duet between Rapunzel and her mother. The song was
added to the London production but was never seen on Broadway.
As the baker, veteran actor John Rubenstein gives a solid
performance, but as director he shines much more. He has clearly
brought out the best in an ensemble that works well together. With
a second act that provides even more twists and turns where the
original tales left off, "Into the Woods" is not a short play. But
the cast keeps things moving and the thoroughly entertained
audience will still be home well before the stroke of midnight.
THEATER: "Into the Woods" is playing through March 2 at the
Interact Theatre in North Hollywood. Tickets are $22, $20 for
students and seniors. For more information, call THEATIX at (213)
466-1767.
Interact Theatre Co.
Amanda Carlin (l.), John Rubinstein and Leslie Hicks star in
Interact Theatre Company’s production of "Into the Woods" in North
Hollywood.