Into the Woods

As anyone who has been Into the Woods with Sondheim can attest to, it is certainly a twisty road through the dense scores, but when the battle is through it is such a fun musical to be part of and to watch. Martyn Payne as Director and Rebecca Barques as Musical Director have done this expertly. When entering the building I had a very warm welcome by front of house staff, when entering the theatre, the audience were greeted by the calming sound of bird song played throughout the auditorium which really enhanced the feeling of being outside.

Rebecca Barques had her work cut out for her with teaching the complicated score and conducting the fourteen-piece orchestra. With only a few minor blips, the singing and musicality of the show were wonderful and worked so well to help drive the pace of the show on. Indeed, the opening number ‘Into the Woods’ was excellently put together and timings where impeccable which is so difficult with such a multi layered piece. The many songs performed by Sarah Brodie as the Witch were fabulous and so powerful, which really underpinned the characters overall attitude. Similarly, the melodic flow and menacing quality of ‘Hello Little Girl’ performed by Alex Dickenson, who also played the narrator, was exceptional. The musical highlight of the show in my opinion was the exceptionally put together ‘Your Fault’ sung by Sarah Brodie, Chris Barques as the Baker, Holly Brigden as Cinderella, Meg Sugden as Little Red and Aaron Bolton as Jack.

Martyn Payne has done an exceptional job of guiding the cast through the show, which is based on the crazy world of the Grimm brothers’ fairytales, whilst keeping the overall feel light-hearted and emphasising the shows comic qualities. This was driven home perfectly by the combination of Joe Spence as Cinderellas Prince and Christian Brodie as Rapunzel’s Prince. These two talented actors were perfect for their roles and were just simply a joy to watch.

The two-tier set was well thought out and put together to provide a good overall feeling of being in a woodland whilst allowing plenty of room for the cast to move unencumbered. The incorporation of the stairs through the seating was also well used to represent a bean stalk during ‘Giants in the Sky’ performed by Aaron Bolton who was great at playing the dim-witted Jack. He demonstrated well how well the whole stage could be used effectively.

All the cast worked exceptionally hard to keep the pace of the show going with no gaps or lags which really helped create the overall atmosphere through the show. The combination of Alex Dickenson and Esme Ferris as joint narrators worked well and felt almost like you were listening to their conversation rather than a story being told. The combination of Paige Hudder as the Bakers Wife and Holly Brigden as Cinderella in the song ‘A Very Nice Prince’ similarly gave the show a good feeling of movement, as these two almost acted like they were finishing each other’s sentences and sang the song beautifully.

One of the most memorable performances of the evening had to be Joshua Murrybutler as the puppeteer of Milky White. This talented individual drew the audience in with his exceptional puppetry skills and almost made it feel like there wasn’t a person behind the puppet.

I want to commend everyone involved in this show , unfortunately I don’t have enough space to name you all, but I want everyone to know how fantastic a show  you have created and think you all deserve every round of applause you receive. To undertake such a mammoth show and create such an excellent representation just shows how talented the cast and crew truly are.

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