Into The Woods JR

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s multi award-winning musical follows the story of a Baker and his wife who wish to have a child and this can only be achieved by fulfilling the Witches instructions to find four crucial ingredients for a magic potion; a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold. Consequently we meet Jack and his milky white cow, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Cinderella as the story unravels around these well-known tales.

This well directed Junior version by Dean Bayliss concludes effectively at the end of Act 1 of the equivalent full adult version, which is a great point to finish as this avoids the rather darker aspects of the show that would otherwise follow. But the musical score is no less demanding and the cast handled this magnificently, unaided by any Musical Director.

Throughout, the story unfolds with the help of a Narrator played by Olivia Sproule with clarity and great diction, introducing each character on a clever replica model of the set. Central to the story were the ‘Baker and his wife’, played with great presence by Elijah Broadbent and Lottie Beck- Johnson. Both were convincing in their respective roles; Lottie drawing out the right mix of humour and frustration in their relationship.   

There were other very mature performances; including Dixie Stone as ‘Cinderella’, who had a particularly strong voice, ‘Red Riding Hood’ played with innocent charm by Mischa Denny-Richards (on the night I attended) and Amelia Davies as the ‘Witch’. Amelia gave an excellent performance both in acting and singing particularly in the number ‘Stay with me’ when you felt her pain from the realisation that her daughter Rapunzel had grown up. ‘Rapunzel’ Played by Pippa Flemming also sang well with a natural presence that would catch any Prince’s eye!

The Princes themselves; ‘Cinderella’s Prince’ played by Jake Wakefield and ‘Rapunzel’s Prince’ played by William Flemming (on the night I attended), gave good support, along with ‘Jack’ (Joe Stone),  ‘Jack’s Mother’ (Emilia D’Adda) (on the night I attended) together with Erica Borwell Fox as ‘Wolf’, Francessca Jeacock as ‘Granny’, Amy Ranansinghe as ‘Mysterious Woman’ and Lydia Ashby as ‘Steward’.

Completing the cast were ‘Cinderella’s Mother’ (Mia Beaney), ‘Cinderella’s Step-Mother’ (Emily Williams), and Cinderella’s sisters, ‘Florinda’ (Sienna Beaney) and ‘Lucinda’ (Rosie Craythorne). The latter three were suitably unkind and each had some very effective make-up as did the ‘Witch’ and the cast in general. 

The fixed set on two levels was effective, lighting and particularly sound were excellent, the latter so important in facilitating the high standard of clarity achieved. My congratulations to all involved on and off stage for a very enjoyable performance.

 

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