Review: Into The Woods

It had been a while since I saw a Broadway production with unbridled enthusiasm until seeing the revival of Into the Woods at the St. James Theatre. Originally mounted at City Center as part of their “Encores!” series this spring, it has the same spare production and a somewhat different cast, but it’s thrilling to see Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s landmark musical, first produced in 1987, served so well.

Under Lear deBessonet direction the cast hits on all cylinders, earning rapturous applause from the audience. Sara Bareilles plays the Baker’s Wife and proves she not just a hit singer-songwriter or Broadway composer. She spent quite a bit of time onstage over the years for Waitress, the show she wrote (and which, regrettably I have never seen). Here she gives a performance layered with solid musicality, sensitive acting, and comic flair. Broadway veteran Brian d’Arcy James is a good match as the Baker. (They will be replaced after Labor Day by a real husband and wife combo, Stephanie Block and Sebastian Arcelus, who should be equally formidable.)

Other standouts in a uniformly excellent cast include Phillipa Soo as a sweet Cinderella, Gavin Creel and Joshua Henry as the scene-stealing, preening princes, Patina Miller as a very sexy witch (with sparkling white teeth), and newcomer Julia Lester as a hilarious Little Red Riding Hood. But perhaps the most surprising performance is Kennedy Kanagawa’s, the puppeteer who makes the cow Milky White so expressive.

Into the Woods was controversial when it was first produced because of the bifurcation between the acts: Act I having more comedy as it creates a mashup of the traditional fairy tales; Act II being darker as the characters contend with the consequences of the giant. Certainly Sondheim and Lapine wanted to consider larger themes which continue to resonate: the importance of the journey, yearning for something better, asking what you want, finding community in spite of chaos. It’s the beauty of Sondheim’s songs in Act II which touches our hearts: “No More,” “No One Is Alone,” “Children Will Listen.”

There are no frills to this production, in the mode of City Center’s “Encores!” but all of the elements work. Beyond deBessonet’s sure-handed direction, there is David Rockwell’s scenic design, Andrea Hood’s costume design, Lorin Latarro’s choreography, and Rob Berman’s musical direction (putting the Encores! Orchestra right onstage, where Sondheim’s music belongs). As the assembled cast finishes the finale, segueing “Children Will Listen” into the opening theme, “Into the Woods,” the audience simply erupts with delight and appreciation. This masterpiece turns out to be the one play we most needed for our humanity in the wake of the pandemic. It’s only open through October 14. See it if you possibly can.

photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade