Into The Woods Review- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 8:29am

henrik---you should skim through the other thread, too. Several people have weighed in on Zien's performance and praised it as a highlight.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 8:30am

I think Chip was great. No More was wonderful. Him being Cinderella's Father took the impact away for me.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 8:44am

Thanks, best12, I haven't been there since last night and will check it out.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 8:49am

My review (Copied from the other thread, just thought it might be easier to see here)

From initial glance, the set is gorgeous. It's expansive and blends beautifully with the park. As I'm moving to my seat, I'm already getting excited. As the lights are starting to go down, I hear whispers Sondheim is there and I was able to get a glimpse - it's true people, God was there!

Then, the show starts and I started to realize the set that appears beautiful would actually be a bit of a hindrance. The prologue was actually one of the bigger messes of the evening. It's so over choreographed to the point where the actors are running up and down spiral staircases, shouting out lyrics, doing a few spins and then shouting their next line out of breath. I wonder if this an issue with the cast themselves. Perhaps they haven't built up the stamina the physically-demanding movement requires. However, when every single cast member seems to be having frequent issues with being out of breath, I'm inclined to blame what very well may be impossible direction.

There are a lot of other issues with the prologue. I know the score inside and out and knew all of the characters and the way it's directed, I frequently didn't know who was singing or speaking. Part of the issue I think is that there's constant movement. It almost felt like Into the Woods on speed. People who aren't singing are frequently running about and are so distracting that it almost became a game of "find the singer." Moreover, lighting could have been an effective means of highlighting who was singing but since the prologue takes place before sunset, if the lighting was there, it wasn't helping.

Some of the staging really works marvelously. The spiral staircases are used to great effect in the more intimate scenes as green umbrellas are spun around the staircase to illustrate a growing beanstalk and tree branches interwoven through the staircase can make Cinderella's mother's grave. Truly brilliant and one of the highlights. The giant was also staged very cleverly and effectively.

Amy Adams was decent. She certainly has the voice but surprisingly lacked charisma. For a three time Oscar nominee, her presence almost felt nonexistent. In past seasons, when a commanding star took the stage, I felt it. Amy Adams was kind of just there. This could be because ITW is really an ensemble piece and also because she was getting swallowed up by the expansive set and crazy choreography.

I actually really enjoyed Denis O'Hare's performance. He flubbed some lyrics but his voice sounded great and I thought he really had the characterization of the Baker down beautifully.

I am a huge Donna Murphy fan so I may be a bit biased but she is simply regal. She had some sort of weird coughing fit during "Last Midnight" which at first I thought was a character choice but it quickly became clear something went wrong. That notwithstanding, she delivered a tremendous performance in what is easily the most exciting role in the play. She had the comedic timing down quite well. She was beautiful in "Children Will Listen!" The dress is beautiful and so is she, so I have no idea what that supposed controversy is about, by the way.

I'll second a previous poster's complaints about "Agony." The number is funny. It doesn't rely on cheap gimmicks like insipid hand gestures. It's kind of offensive to assume the audience won't "get" the material and needs to somehow be prodded to laugh. Worse than that, their random hand gestures meant the audience was laughing in all the wrong places, often over some of the most clever lyrics. It really wasn't the fault of the audience, they laughed clearly when they were "supposed to." No idea what that was about.

Little Red's scene: Apparently this is getting discussed a lot as being sexually explicit. I actually thought the choreography here was one of the highlights. The wolf is supposed to be a pedophile, just look at his costume in the original Broadway production. Yes, it was a bit graphic, but despite the appearances, ITW genuinely isn't a show for all ages. It's a bit more mature and I thought the scene worked well.

Sarah Stiles, Jessie Mueller, and Chip Zien were surprising standouts.

Cues were missed, lyrics were flubbed, but it was the FIRST preview, with a shortened tech week. All of that can be forgiven. So, in the final assessment, we're left with a bit of a messily directed and choreographed production with a very good, but not quite excellent, cast. The show is still beautiful and a great night at the theatre.

A few other random thoughts:

The child narrator works very effectively. I know some purists have been criticizing the idea but it really works. It makes the feeding of the narrator to the giant resonate even a bit deeper. It certainly helped that Jack Broderick did a very good job.

The witch's transformation is painful. It's supposed to be a mesmerizing visual effect but it looked like something a low budget high school production would have done. They blew leaves around and the lights dimmed a bit while she basically just changed in front of us, the whole thing took a painfully and uncomfortably long time.

And I know most people will gloss over it because the role is so tiny but Ellen Harvey was very good as the stepmother.

[willep]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 10:07am

uncageg - I guess I should have clarified that my response on the other page was more directed towards Wynbish than you.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 10:39am

Thanks willep.

Regarding the set, it did feel at times as if it was set a bit far back with too much room in the front.

The opening took me by surprise and I loved it. By then end of the show it brought home the lyrics to Children Will Listen. I won't give it away but I loved what the cast did during the final song and kind of who the narrator became.

I too saw the racoon walking along the back of the stage. It was fine. The show does take place in the woods!

I think that once they get used to the set it will get better. Even with things I didn't care for that may not change it was a magical night. The missed cues, and sound problems were expected as it was a first preview and the first time it was performed in front of a full house.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 11:06am

I thought the set could have been utilized really well. However, the staging just made the set look cluttered and in the way. And there were so many missed opportunities with the lighting.

Even though I know the show intimately, I had lots of trouble following all the plots in the first act. Just too frenetic and not focused. I'm sure some will be fixed with more runs. The characterizations are not as clear as the previous two Broadway incarnations. I think the costume design is somewhat to blame. The whole first act, you're still guessing who is who because there is nothing distinct that makes each character who we know them to be. Just a little too abstract. The costumes don't need to be literal, but characters like the Steward, the stepsisters, the father, etc. disappear into the mix of the other ensemble members and don't stand out.

[Holster2]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 11:32am

Everyone should take into account that they had one week of technical rehearsals to get this gigantic show up on its feet. I doubt they had six full 10 out of 12s, but let's pretend that they did. The first half of those rehearsals would have been in broad daylight (read: NOT show conditions) and probably not in costume. You also obviously can't set lights, at least not accurately, during the daytime. They must have come in from noon until what...about 5? and then taken dinner. 7 until midnight would, I assume, be in (or closer to, at the start) "show conditions" - costumes, lights, accurate time of day/natural light. That's only five hours a day, which means only 30 hours total of actual tech time for a huge musical. They also lost, let's guess and be conservative, about 3 hours because of rain. That brings it down to 27 hours, even though I would be willing to bet it was more than 3 hours that the rain hindered their schedule. We all know how much it rained this past week here in the city. I am not even going to count the canceled preview/rescheduled tech day since it rain that entire evening for them. If you were there last night and saw the show, you will understand why they have to stop in the rain between the choreography and all of the stairs. 27 hours of real tech time. That is nothing.

If that was too long or hard for you to follow, then just read this:

The fact that they did even half as well last night as they did during their FIRST PREVIEW is a spectacular feat. In two weeks when they open, then and only then I think we can all judge as harshly as we want. Until then, let us try to be supportive of this amazing cast, crew, and creative team that is trying to put up a brilliant show. I applaud the great work we saw last night, and I look forward to seeing it again after opening if I can snag another ticket somehow.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/25/12 at 11:54am

Yes, but I also recognize the difference between design and lack of tech. Tech issues can be worked out, as can design elements to a certain extent. But there wasn't really anything potentially magical about the design from what I saw.