Into the Woods, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, is both a dark and searching meditation on the consequences of desire and a hopeful exploration of a longing for connection. First staged in 1984, it assembles a range of familiar fairy-tale characters and sends them into a forest which serves as a metaphor for life’s moral confusion and hard-won maturity.
This revival at the Bridge Theatre, directed by Jordan Fein, is energetic and visually imaginative, though it does not always adequately balance broad-brush comedy with the work’s deeper emotional pathos. The opening is busy – characters and storylines are introduced in quick succession, and for those unfamiliar with the piece it can take time to settle into the interwoven narratives, drawn largely from the Grimm stories.
Michael Gould’s Narrator provides welcome clarity and steadiness, guiding the audience through the overlapping plot lines. At the centre are the Baker (Jamie Parker) and his Wife (Katie Brayben), compelled to venture into the woods to collect the objects needed to lift a curse placed upon them by the Witch. Kate Fleetwood brings authority and vocal strength to the role, while allowing glimpses of vulnerability beneath the character’s bitterness.
Gracie McGonigal’s Little Red Riding Hood moves from childish bravado to shaken awareness after her encounter with the Wolf, played with unctuous charm by Oliver Savile. There is genuine comic pleasure in the rivalry between the two Princes, played by Rhys Whitfield and Oliver Savile. Their renditions of “Agony” are well judged and musically strong, revealing the absurdity of romantic self-reference without pushing too far into parody. Jo Foster’s Jack has energy and humour, while Chumisa Dornford-May’s “No one is Alone” delivers a lyric and deeply moving lullaby. Katie Brayben gives the Baker’s Wife intelligence and her deeper conflict, yet the production does not always allow the character the quieter moments of realisation and reflection that might resonate more deeply.
The main difficulty lies in the tonal balance of the evening. The first act leans heavily on humour, with performances that at times reach too broadly for a laugh rather than trusting the tension inherent the writing to do its quiet work. As a result, the sense of threat and moral complexity that should gradually gather is too often sacrificed for the sake of a laugh. As the second act turns toward loss, responsibility and the consequences of earlier choices, the emotional weight comes pouring out, almost suffocating in its earnestness. The pathos is certainly there, and there are moments of real feeling, but the contrasting moods of the two acts feels abrupt rather than cumulative.
Visually, the production is striking. Tom Scott’s set is a theatrical marvel: a living woodland of shadowy recesses that suggests both adventure and entrapment. The trees appear to breathe and rearrange themselves, heightened by Aideen Malone’s moody, textured lighting design, which lends the forest an atmosphere of perpetual menace. The costumes, by contrast, feel oddly muted and occasionally ill-judged in colour and silhouette, as though more persuasive in concept sketch than in execution on the actors themselves.
This is an ambitious and often compelling revival that honours much of Sondheim’s musical intelligence and wit, and the orchestra is certainly first-rate, under the musical direction of Mark Aspinall. Yet the great songs and clever Sondheim lyrics cannot quite balance the show’s comic surface with its deeper emotional currents. The woods are vivid and alive here, but the moral shadows that give the piece its lasting power are never fully integrated.
Into the Woods
Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Book: James Lapine
Director: Jordan Fein
Set and Costume Design: Tom Scutt
Musical Director: Mark Aspinall
Lighting Designer: Aideen Malone
Cast includes: Valda Aviks, Katie Brayben, Bella Brown, Chumisa Dornford-May, Kate Fleetwood, Jo Foster, Michael Gould, Gracie McGonigal, Jamie Parker, Oliver Savile, Rhys Whitfield
To 30 May