The Public Theatre's Shakespeare/Park presents INTO THE WOODS -- Discussion — Page 10

jv92- I don't think it makes a difference if it's the first preview or the final performance. It doesn't matter if it's a musical or a play, on Broadway or Off, or even if the show was brilliant or a steaming pile of sh!t.

She works in the industry (or would like to continue doing so), and she needs to be aware that the cast and crew could be former or future colleagues. Publicly she should have nothing but praise for any production. She doesn't like something she should publicly keep her mouth shut. Behind closed doors she can trash actors, authors and creative teams all she wants, but not when making statements for public consumption.

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ok i'm sick of hearing about this morgan girl. where are the reviews?

Whizzer, I agree. I was trying to make reference to the fact that at a first preview it is in EXTREMELY bad taste.

Could she mean either the Wolf/Little Red or The Prince/The Baker's Wife?

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The producer and director were offensive sexually? 'Cuz that's kind of what that tweet says. In any event, maybe it's good she missed the original production with the giant wolf penis.

Updated On: 7/24/12 at 11:45 PM

James’ retort to Scott Allen. WHAT WHAT WHAT?!

What did Oskar Eustis ever do to you Morgan?

I missed what Hunter did!

How's Chip Zien?

it still needs work. the staging is very busy and a lot of things need to be tightened up but i still enjoyed it despite that. i know they were having a lot of technical problems last week with the weather, and honestly i was expecting a lot worse. the design elements were of course extraordinary, once it started getting dark that set was downright magical.

just a few thoughts on the performances: sarah stiles was the unexpected standout, little red has never been a favorite of mine but her interpretation was very funny and very different from danielle ferland's. jessie mueller was also wonderful. denis o'hare was the biggest disappointment for me, he flubbed some lyrics and while he had some good moments i wasn't really feeling his characterization overall. donna seemed to be having some vocal problems, she was coughing during "last midnight" and was holding back on a lot of the big belting moments. amy adams was good but not a revelation, her take on the role is very gleason-lite at the moment.

that said, i was sobbing like a baby at the end and i'm dying to see it again later in the run.

Orchestra's live, right? And how does it sound? It's not Gemignani conducting, right?

Gemignani is listed as the Musical Director.

Also, does it sound like Donna Murphy is using the original keys? I wonder if she'd benefit from the lower Vanessa Williams keys.

There were many misses and bumps along the way. I'm sure those will get worked out as this is the first preview. But I don't truly understand the concept, the staging and storytelling is confusing, and I think it's near impossible to do the show without a conductor bringing in the actors.

For those keeping score, the revival lyrics of Last Midnight are used, they added the lost verse of Children Will Listen after the first verse, and Our Little World was listed in the Playbill but not sung.

Amy Adams and Denis O'Hare are fine on their own, but their relationship needs tweaking (in the theatrical sense). Their argument in the second act was somewhat rewritten. I don't think it had the same impact as the original lines.

Donna had a bit of a rough act 2. She was not with the orchestra at all at points in Lament. She had a pretty bad coughing fit when she was singing to the baby in Last Midnight. She also forgot a line in Children Will Listen.

There were numerous times when the actors were not with the orchestra. Now I know this is a notorious score and it's near impossible to hear what's right or wrong, but as someone who knows this score inside out, it was very obvious that the actors were struggling to hear their entrances or beat without a conductor physically in front of them.

The direction is just confusing. Yes, transitions were rough and awkward and that stuff will get worked out, but it's not really clear what is going on in the first act. And the craziness in the second act seemed tame. The approaches to each act should have been reversed. And the boy narrator...I just don't get it. It's not really clear why he's the narrator or why the characters depend on him and in this concept, it doesn't make sense why the story even continues after they feed him to the giant, which just felt wrong.

Also, No One Is Alone was probably the biggest mess of the show. Lighting cues were off and Jessie and Denis were not together at all. Jessie kept missing her cues it seems. Could she not hear? It made Denis seem wrong whenever he sang even though he was on top of it. In fact, Denis O'Hare sang every correct note and rhythm as Sondheim wrote it, something I haven't heard from other Bakers. It made his parts in You Fault and No More illuminated. He sang every one of Sondheim's strange intervals and sang them correctly. You have to commend him for that.

Chip Zien in No More. Everything was right in the world when that happened. Just all and every emotion.