Musical Combines Fairy Tales, Takes Viewer Into Woods

By Cheryl Klein

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 Company has captured this lighthearted mood well in their small production, which runs through March 23.

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.