"Into the Woods" is one of those shows that have developed classic status in the last 35 years - a mashup of four different fairy tales with a wraparound story tying them all together, it takes a slightly more Grimm fairy tale approach to the stories rather than the usual Disney approach, with all the gory bits kept in - Rapunzel's prince and both ugly stepsisters get blinded, the Big Bad Wolf is chopped open to rescue Red Ridinghood, and some of the Freudian undercurrents get drawn out. Act two looks at what happens after happy-ever-after, as consequences and betrayals and issues that haven't been so much dealt with as wished away come back to haunt everybody.
Eamon Flack's production is, as suits the Belvoir space, full of clever surprises to bring the sprawling stories within the space allowed, using simple theatre techniques to flick between multiple locations and to emphasise the fun and playfulness of the show for as long as it can possibly be playful, and to bring the truth when the games are over. I've not seen a production of the show get quite this many laughs out of Sondheim's complexly witty lyrics - all the performers are game and committed to selling their various quests and desires. There's slightly more extensive doubling than is conventional for this show (with six of the thirteen cast members swapping in and out of roles, occasionally with bits of the other costume on while they're performing one of the roles in a split-second-change) and the orchestration is brought down to one-and-a-half pianos (with one of the piano players also enlisted as cast). The re-orchestrations and choral work of Guy Simpson ensures this is still a sonically rich evening where the music feels as essential as the performances.
There are great performances across the ensemble, too, from Justin Smith's Baker, solid, emotive, a little pigheaded, Esther Hannaford's effortlessly practical Baker's Wife, buying into the romanticism and enjoying a casual gossip with Cinderella but able to keep her focus on her own goals, Tamsin Carrol's persnickety Eastern-European Witch next door, Ava Madon's yearningly sweet Cindarella learning her own practicalness, Mo Lovegrove's vionently-inclined Red Riding Hood, Marty Alix's endearingly dim Jack (and the snobbish steward), Tim Draxl applying the two sides of charm as the slaverig Wolf and the self-satisfied Cindarella's Prince, Peter Carroll's stenorian narrator and his cantankerous Mysterious Man, Stephanie Caccamo embodies her triple roles of Rapunzel, one of the ugly stepsisters and Red Ridinghood's grandmother with ease to the extent that it's only at the end you realise she's been disappearing into all three roles so well, Andrew Coshnan as the other ugly sister and Rapunzel's prince doesn't so much disappear into the roles as enjoys sticking his own cheeky personality through both of them and Pamela Rabe's stenorian tones as the Giant's Wife are a welcome sound to hear.
The set design by Michael Hankin and the costumes by Micka Agosta blend to bring out the fantasy and charm of the piece, with simple but effective choices embodying the characters well.
This is a contempoary classic in a lively production with a few clever creative choices bringing it to life fabulously, and is entirely built to delight audiences whether familiar with the show or coming to it for the first time. And it succeeds in those aims well.
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