Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine

So many fairy tales end up in the woods. It is where the main character meets their challenge, and that's what Into the Woods is all about. My favourite is Cinderella. I suppose that's because her dilemma is the one I understand the most. Cinderella is stuck between the highly flawed, yet strangely comfortable world of her childhood, and the scary future that she dreams of. She is plagued with indecision, that, given the way I just described it, is understandable.

Cinderella, and all the other characters in Into the Woods, go through a lot. There are lots of little life lessons along the way, but it never gets preachy. It is quite often funny, and at times, quite gory, so that there really is no one style to the piece.

This production of Into the Woods is a concert version put on by Oz Showbiz Cares/Equity Fights Aids and members of the cast of Oliver! The costumes were mostly borrowed from the Oliver! wardrobe, and the permanent part of the Oliver! set was still present on stage. A lightning effect used in Oliver! was even utilized during the Last Midnight number.

While the costumes and props were adequate (except for the corn which seemed to go missing), what made it a concert version was the fact that the set was made up of chairs and that the cast carried scripts with them. The scripts were rarely utilized during vital scenes, so they really didn't get in the way, and even provided humour on a couple of occasions, as is the tradition in concert versions of musicals. My companion for the evening, who didn't know the show, only got confused once by the limited sets, when Wendy-Lee Purdy walked from one side of the stage as Cinderella's stepmother, to the other side of the stage as the ghost of Cinderella's mother, and this wasn't entirely clear.

Now for the cast. I'll leave Christina until last.

Tyran Parke as Jack was amazing. He brought something to the role I had never seen in it before. I hesitate to give it a name, but it's sort of like a sense of mischief. He really seemed to be Jack that night. Queenie Van De Zandt as the witch was barely recognizable in her two incarnations, yet the character still had a flow to it. Last Midnight was especially well performed and qualified as my favourite number for the night.

Philip Dodd and Tamsin Carroll as the baker and his wife were very good, but that's not to say I don't have criticisms. Philip Dodd filled the baker with ample character. He allowed the character to seem a little foolish, which I think is necessary, but as he is a straight actor first and foremost, his vocal work didn't quite do Sondheim justice. (Not that I can talk.) Tamsin on the other hand, performed the songs of the baker's wife magnificently. Though in-between the numbers, the wife seemed a little indifferent, even when flirting with the prince.

Natalie O'Donnell as Little Red has me a bit puzzled. Even now, as I write this a month later, I still can't decide what I think of her performance. She made Little Red positively callous. It seems wrong, but I can see the benefit of it. I will remain confused.

Now, to the important part: Christina as Cinderella. While her performance as Cinderella didn't stand out, I didn't really expect it to. Cinderella is about as close as Into the Woods gets to a straight character. Even when talking to her birds, she does it with a degree of seriousness, and the reactions of others provide the comedy, but the straight man is a comedic skill in itself, and Christina handled it well. In vocal terms, I was more than happy with the renditions of Cinderella at the Grave, On the Steps of the Palace and No One Is Alone, as well as the various other little tidbits the character has. Unfortunately, it is hard to put a personal vocal mark on such songs, and because I lack a recording of Christina's renditions, I have tried to avoid the DVD and CD versions I have of these songs, but already I am starting to hear Kim Crosby when I think of them. I can only hope the Broadway Revival gets brought to Australia, so Christina can reprise her role. Wishful thinking? Yes, but who cares.

Into the Woods in Concert
Oz Showbiz Cares/Equity Fights Aids and Members of the Oliver! Company
Sunday 1st December 2002
Regent Theatre
Review From Stalls DD 30

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