Into The Woods

Into The Woods, Rutland Musical Theatre

Manton Village Hall, Rutland - August 2024

A major Sondheim production in a small rural village, performed by an amateur group in the limited facilities of a village hall? Sounds incredible. Like a fairy tale.

Well, some fairy tales do come true, and this production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods by RMT in Manton Village Hall, Rutland, brought several fairy tales to life. The small venue, stage restrictions and capacity audience of about 100 proved no limitation to this ambitious production. The concept, delivery, uncomplicated staging, and every cast member’s performance was an example of what Amateur Theatre can achieve with vision, commitment, energy and talent.

Few shows have a more effective opening number than the Into The Woods prologue. From that spellbinding introduction the show never flagged. It provided colour, music, comedy and drama in a thrilling presentation of Sondheim’s complex musical in which the lives of  well known fairytale characters interweave into a single story. The show’s theme uses the tales of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and his cow, a Baker and his Wife, together with a Witch and a Giant!

The Cast

Most of the cast of about 16 players were on stage throughout the production. When not involved in the action, members sat around the stage seemingly absorbed in their books of fairy stories. It's a credit to their concentration and to the production that at no time did I see any sneak a peep at the action in front of them.

Everyone in this production excelled from the very start with Cinderella’s Stepmother (Sarah Owen) and Stepsisters Florinda (Cassandra Pattison) and Lucinda (Emma Kirkley), exotically dressed and excitedly singing about the Prince’s Festival which Cinderella desperately wants also to attend.

The story is helped along by a narrator who from time to time provides links from one action episode to another. Jen Squires’ effective narration provided reassuring focus whenever the story’s many threads needed pulling together.

I've said that each of the performers excelled. Two main characters, the Baker and his Wife, played by Dan Wade and Laura Ray, held the show together nicely with the central story of their desperate need to overcome the Witch’s curse and achieve their long-wanted child. They are joined early in the action by Victoria Fallow Norton as a lively and extremely comedic Little Red Riding Hood. Cinderella, beautifully played, and sung, by Katie Ross portrayed the hopeful downtrodden girl ultimately winning (and eventually losing) her Prince Charming. Mariana Dixon, as Rapunzel, complete with amazingly long hair plait, also delivered her role with confidence and assured vocals.

Jude Major, as Jack, and Belinda Horton as his mother, were an entertaining couple (for me, reminiscent of Sweeney Todd’s Mrs Lovett and Tobias). Jack’s well-meaning naïve character fed well into the story of trading his cow ‘Milky White’ for some magic beans (you know the rest!), and Belinda effectively portrayed the loving but exasperated mother striving to make ends meet.

Jack’s cow deserves a mention. Not as a performer itself, but for the very believable character created by its skilled Puppeteer Troy Wilkins. It was a nice touch, also, for Troy and ‘Milky’ to mingle with the audience at the end of the show.

The two Princes pursuing Cinderella and Rapunzel provided an entertaining contrast to each other. James Barlow, a lascivious Prince Charming, and Tom Johnson, a flamboyant and delightfully ‘camp’ unnamed Prince, together provided strong comedy and fine singing voices, their duet ‘Agony’ particularly well sung and entertainingly performed.

Louis Brandt, as the mysterious man, and Craig McClelland as the Steward added important characterisations to the story. Vocally, The Mysterious Man's ‘No More’ duet with The Baker in act 2 was one of the show's many musical highlights.

The central and influential character in Into The Woods is The Witch, played here by Rebecca Harris. Suitably evil in Act One and glamorously elegant in Act Two, Rebecca was a very strong and confident focus of the entire proceedings.

Music, Choreography & Technicals

Throughout the production management of the music tracks and the company’s singing showed dedicated rehearsal and strong musical direction under MD Mariana Dickson. The complex musical ensemble sequences, at the opening and closing of both acts, were a joy, beautifully supported by intricate and well-coordinated choreography under the dance direction of Choreographer Jenny South.

The technical side of the production, in the hands of Stage Manager George Walker and Technical Director Phil Norton, effective lighting in particular, showed what can be done with imagination and creativity in a venue not designed for large-scale musicals. Another example of innovative use of the building was the ‘immersive’ nature, where many entrances and exits were made through the audience, presumably to enable performers to get back-stage.

Direction

The idea of staging a full production in this small setting was ambitious. Its achievement a credit to the vision of the production and technical teams. The venture needed imagination and confidence that it could work. This must be very much to the credit of Director Lizzie Young, and I take my hat off to Lizzie, her team and the whole company for an extremely successful and very enjoyable show.

Thanks, RMT. Looking forward to seeing you at Shrek, next year.

 

Colin Blackler

Noda

September 2024

  © NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.