Photo Flash: Pittsburgh CLO's INTO THE WOODS Starring Foster, Cody, Leavel, Earley and More- Page 2

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 5:47pm

What's with you people unable to spell "pedophile"?

(Why don't you take a seat over there...)

[EugLoven]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 5:52pm

LizzieCurry: Cutie-patootie Stanley is on the website (but tiny photo)

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 5:54pm

Thanks. Yay for incomplete photo flashes!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 7:29pm

That COW is Huge!
"Shame on the props/costume departments"
I don't think they have those departments there.

[PitPro2004]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 8:39pm

Looks like they borrowed the cow from a production of Gypsy featuring Hagar from the Harry Potter movies. He's the only one big enough to accommodate a fake animal that large!

When I heard Beth was in this, I had her pegged as Jack's Mother. I was going to drive out Thursday and check out the production after the show had settled in a bit, but I can't make it. Would love a review from someone out there.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 8:51pm

Jen Cody looks like Cheri Oteri!

that picture of Cinderella's mother.. the lighting makes her look like a wolf

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 2:22am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4XFg5bTQIM

[faithzilla]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 2:28am

Someone needs to tell Jen Cody she's short, not 16.
THAT COW!!!
But other than that it looks fine. I'm loving the stepsisters costumes.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 2:58am

Is it me, or does Beth Leavel look like JoAnne Worley?

[tellybox]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 3:56am

Well said thejcm, the only thing allowed in that cow should be Benanti. Besides, the whole costume, or whatever the heck it is, looks like it was ripped from a Super Mario Bros. video game.

Or maybe that's just me.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 4:27am

What is Beth Level doing with the "Lament" in that video? It's usually a very beautiful moment. It seems like she's trying to get a laugh out of it.

[broadwaybaby221]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 5:11am

I saw the show on Tuesday night and let's just say I was very disappointed with the production as a whole. It's one of those things where CLO either really gets it or really misses it and this was a total miss and really a total MESS.

This show should never, EVER be put up in six days and then only have six days to run it. It was a technical mess whenever I saw it on Tuesday. I really wanted to cut it some slack because I did see it on opening night but this isn't the first time I've seen CLO be a technical mess.

Hunter Foster and Brynn O'Malley were passable as the Baker and his wife. Both had a lot of missed moments although I will say that O'Malley was better of the two. Hunter had a couple lines flubs as well.

Jen Cody did read as too old and I love that woman but she really shouldn't be playing the role. Jen, also, had a line flub.

Kevin Earley as the Wolf and Cinderella's prince lacked so much charm and was just a complete bore to watch. It got the the point where I was excited to know he wouldn't be on stage for a while.

Sara Jean Ford as Cinderella was one of the better parts of the production. I felt that she tried her best and delivered a fine performance. She also has a gorgeous voice and I could listen to her sing all day.

Beth Leavel as the Witch was actually one of the better parts of the production. Was she over the top in some moments? Yes. However, it worked the way she was portraying the Witch. I admired that she had a completely different take on it than anyone else playing the role and it worked for me.


Stanley Bahorek as Jack was also boring and had plenty of missed moments, especially "Giants in the Sky."

Tim Hartman as The Narrator/Mysterious Man was interesting, to say the least. I loved his Narrator and it worked but his Mysterious Man was full of mugging.

However, the best person on that stage was Greggory Brandt as Rapunzel's Prince. He had the charm, he had the voice and he had the acting down pat. I usually hate "Agony" but whenever he was singing he was so fantastic. He really stole the show for me.

CLO's set was wonderful but, like I said, it was hard to tell from the technical nightmare that it was.

[Lefou]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:02pm

To Broadwayguy: I have a beef with LOTS of things you've said..

I'll start with the fact of Jen Cody being too old for little red. YES, the role is usually played by a younger girl, the creative team however went in a different direction and it worked perfectly. I dont think shes stuck in the past or trying to play younger parts, she is a commediene who adapts to the role thats given to her...which brings up my next question to you..have you seen the economy? When on earth would you find an actor this day and age passing on a job for an excellent summer stock gig as a principal in a well-known show? It would be absolutly insanity for any of those actors to have done that. So her "going along with it" is competely invalid...its a JOB. Her portrayl of Little Red is like what she does with her Little Sally appearances..it doesnt sound like you've seen the show (how well can you really judge from production stills?), the audience ate her up and in the end thats all that matters. And its the PCLO, I'm sure they had their choice of MANY talented actresses for the part, but if your going to "fault" anyone, fault the creative team...never EVER fault the actor.

[azeller]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:05pm

I saw the show on Tuesday and really enjoyed it. Was is it "perfect" - no - but I'd like to see a show like this one pulled off perfectly with just under a weeks worth of rehearsals.

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:09pm

What did they take those pictures with? A disposable camera?

Worst Photo Flash everrrrr...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:13pm

Oh, but they're a VAST improvement over the photos they released of WSS: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/120392-PHOTO_CALL_West_Side_Story_with_von_Essen_and_Ewoldt_at_Pittsburgh_CLO

Baby steps, Pittsburgh, CLO...

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:22pm

Wow, this production looks pretty bad. Based on the video...

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:24pm

I adore Beth Leavel, but she's incredibly miscast as The Witch.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:30pm

LeFou,

I don't have to see the show to know that Jen Cody should not be playing that role. And based on the press reel on YT, I am correct. Short does not equal young. The Little Sally schtick is VASTLY different than Little Red - the style of the show, the fact that Woods is a show and now, Little Sally is a sketch at a fundraiser, etc. Jen Cody doesn't adapt. Jen Cody, like Kristin Chenoweth and Sutton Foster, does ONE thing.

If you reread all of my postings in regard to this, I DID, first and foremost, fault the creative team. I THEN laid blame on jen Cody for being foolish enough to take it on. You pull the 'economy' card, but Ms. Cody has a steady gig in a Broadway show, so that doesn't seem to be a very valid arguement.

Also, whether or not the creative team's "vision" or "idea" of casting Little Red as a menopausal 40 year old with an over baked tan and deep crows feet worked or not is a matter of interpretation. For me, it does not work. Do not try to state to me that it is a fact that it does work. It isn't about disliking Ms. Cody. In fact, I enjoy Ms. Cody as Little Sally, in her hosting gigs, etc. It is about appropriateness. There are many, many performers that I love dearly and drop everything to see, but if they were playing a role that they were drastically wrong for, I would still say the same thing - they'd have NO business playing the role.


---------------------------------------


telly,

If Benanti was in the cow suit, the cow would NO personality, so let's just keep her far away.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:39pm

Also, the Steward looks like Arnold Rimmer.

Haha! Love it!

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 1:45pm

Also, whether or not the creative team's "vision" or "idea" of casting Little Red as a menopausal 40 year old with an over baked tan and deep crows feet worked or not is a matter of interpretation.

Ha ha ha, best thread of the day.

That video IS brutal.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 3:03pm

Thank you, Blaxx. Perhaps I need to see Hunter Foster as Oliver in Oliver or Sutton Foster as Annie in Annie to know that THOSE would be a bad idea too.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 3:29pm

Who directed it?

[blaxx]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 3:40pm

Francesca Zambello?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 3:42pm

But Blaxx, it couldn't be Zambello.. Note that it takes place in the woods and there are trees in the set; Zambello wouldn't use trees for a forest set.. and the Wolf would be chasing Little Old Red on heelies.
Updated On: 8/6/09 at 03:42 PM