The Public Theatre's Shakespeare/Park presents INTO THE WOODS -- Discussion — Page 33

I saw Cleo as the Witch at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles. She was terrific in all respects, and I wasn't expecting her to be since she was such a departure from Bernadette Peters. Her smokey/jazzy voice sounded great on Stay With Me and Last Midnight. And she had such a wonderful, strong personality on stage and an instant connection with the audience.

I also saw her in Drood with the full OBC, late in previews. The whole cast was fantastic. I then saw Drood later in the run with Donna Murphy in the title role and Karen Morrow as Puffer. It was such a letdown after seeing the full OBC. The energy was gone.

Here's the full cast of Into the Woods at the Ahmanson with Cleo Laine headlining as the Wtich:


Witch - Cleo Laine
Baker - Ray Gill
Baker's Wife - Mary Gordon Murray
Narrator / Mysterious Man - Rex Robbins
Cinderella - Kathleen Rowe McAllen
Wolf / Cinderella's Prince - Chuck Wagner (playing Westenberg's roles now)
Jack - Robert Duncan McNeill
Jack's Mother - Charlotte Rae
Little Red Ridinghood - Tracy Katz
Rapunzel - Marguerite Lowell
Rapunzel's Prince - Douglas Sills
Cinderella's Stepmother - Jo Ann Cunningham
Florinda - Susan Gordon-Clark
Lucinda - Danette Cuming
Cinderella's Father - Don Crosby (OBC member Kim Crosby's father)
Cinderella's Mother - Nora Mae Lyng
Grandmother / Giant - Nora Mae Lyng
Steward - Marcus Olson

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Updated On: 8/6/12 at 10:05 AM

She was!

A great choice for the part and she played it beautifully. The music fit her singing voice and the role fit her comedic abilities.

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Well, I wouldn't say she was better than Peters, but she was refreshingly different and made the role work beautifully for her. It wasn't remotely an imitation of the Broadway version of the Witch.

And yes, it goes without saying that they lowered the keys for her solos to better fit her voice and take advantage of those "deeper" notes. It worked so well. Cleo has a huge range, and in the larger group numbers they left the keys alone.

Everybody in that production was good. Standouts being Laine, Rae, Mary Gordon Murray (such an incredible voice!) as the Baker's Wife and Tracy Katz (hilarious) as Little Red. Robert Duncan McNeill (after All My Children but before Star Trek) was an excellent Jack and could really sing it well. And it was great seeing Chuck Wagner play the other prince (and the wolf). Douglas Sills was great, too, and the two of them were memorable with Agony. I also remember loving Rex Robbins as the Narrator/Mysterious Man. He had been in 1776 (both the OBC and the film).

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A lot of people loved Mary Gordon Murray. I have friends who swear her Baker's Wife was 2nd best or tied with Gleason's. I had no idea it was Kathleen Rowe McAllen as Cinderella. She more less disappeared after ASPECTS OF LOVE. Beautiful, with a beautiful voice.

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There's not much of anything on YouTube for Mary Gordon Murray. I found a clip of her singing 18 years after she played the Baker's Wife. Her voice is still amazing, but imagine how it might have sounded two decades earlier!

She had the ability to belt like a rock star AND sing legit like an opera singer. She had a rich alto and a surprisingly high soprano, both.

And she was one hell of a good actress and comedienne.

I also saw her pre-Broadway in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA as Rosabella. She was a temporary out-of-town fill-in for Sophie Hayden. When the show opened in NY, I kept hoping Mary would go into it, but apparently it was already worked out in advance. Ah, well. I wish she worked more on Broadway!


Mary Gordon Murray in 2006

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Best of luck, gstrus2! We all know how anxious you are to see the show! lol.

You mean Thursday night's opening and cast party.

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FYI, Cinderella is getting a new dress

Her new dress is silver and gold, more fairy taley.

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I don't know, but I'd bring whatever you have, to be safe. If you can't call the Public to ask (212-539-8500), maybe try their twitter.

Good luck, and welcome to the board. I always enjoy the signed shows more than the captioned ones, but it may not be as practical in this instance.
Public theater twitter

After seeing the frozen incarnation of the show this week for the first time since I saw it in the first week of previews, here are the changes I noticed:

-As has been mentioned in this thread, they've re-thought the costuming for Cinderella. She no longer has the bird tattoos in her dowdy outfit, and they've added leggings to cover up where they were before. Her ballgown is also new. It's long and silver and gold and sparkly, and definitely a huge improvement over the previous costume.

-I thought it sounded like they re-recorded some of the chatter between the little boy and his father before the start of the show, and they definitely tweaked the blocking of their reunion at the end.

-As has also been discussed here, they've re-thought "Last Midnight." They've tweaked the blocking, added back most of the original lyrics, and also polished The Witch's exit significantly. They also changed the very ending of the song. Before, Murphy used to sing, "Mother, here I come!" Now she sings, "Mother... here... I..." and then yells like Bernadette Peters did at the end of the very original. It was much more affective.

-Donna Murphy sings most of "Children Will Listen" alone now. The ensemble comes in much later than before.

-When Cinderella's Stepmother and Florinda and Lucinda were hunting for the Prince before, one of them used to carry a rifle (which I thought was hilarious,) but that's gone.

-Last night, Rapunzel was wearing a vizor and sun screen on her nose in her first scene after being banished. That may have been there before, but I noticed it specifically last night.

-Did the Grandmother always speak with a thick southern accent? I didn't remember her doing that before, but I was struck by it last night.

-Amy Adams used to throw The Prince's arrow into the audience, but she now throws it off stage right. They've also adjusted the tempos and the keys a bit for her in that song. I noticed she sang the final note up higher rather than down low like in the original.

-There were also bits and pieces of scenes that were re-blocked all over the place. It seemed like a lot of stuff was taken down from the levels and played downstage on the ground, which worked better.

-There's now a fully staged curtain call, which wasn't there when I saw it before.

The show was certainly tighter and more fluid last night, but I still don't think it's anywhere near as good as it should be, mostly because of casting issues that can't be re-thought. The weather sure was lovely, though.

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Updated On: 8/7/12 at 11:56 AM

This picture. That is all.

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She's gettin' her shoe.