The Independent London Newspaper
Theatre: Review - Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Published: 26 August 2010
by SIMON WROE
SOMETIMES the capricious moods of the British summer are a blessing. Last week, when a sudden storm stalled Sondheim’s fairytale mash-up in its tracks one evening, few audience members complained. It meant they would get to see the first act again.
What an act it is. The moment the actors appear on Soutra Gilmour’s fantastic multi-levelled tree-house set, their wishes threading between one another in song, the spell is cast.
Linking them all is the baker and his wife, who want to have a child but cannot because of a witch’s curse. If they could just get Red Riding Hood’s cape, Jack’s cow, a lock of Rapunzel’s hair and one of Cinderella’s shoes...
Timothy Sheader, the artistic director at Regent’s Park, has an unerring ability to entertain with his productions, though they rarely go beyond that. His Shakespeares, for instance, are distinctly pop in their sensibilities, with very white teeth.
Into The Woods is his best yet for the theatre, and it is very good. To say his lightness of touch suits the musical format would belittle his achievement.
Of the fascinating cast he has assembled, Beverly Rudd is a standout as the plump Little Red Riding Hood on the cusp of sexual enlightenment.
Her beautifully choreographed scenes with the wolf are some of the production’s best. “There’s no possible way to describe what you feel,” he tells her, “when you’re talking to your meal”.
It’s not all so good. Sondheim’s musical is too long and over-sentimental; much of the second half especially, when the characters suffer the moral consequences of getting what they wished for, feels unnecessary. And both performances I saw had recurring problems with the actors’ microphones, which cut out or hummed with feedback or simply did not work at all.
But it would take a lot more to scupper a show with numbers as good as Moments In The Woods, Agony, and I Know Things Now. The songs crackle with wit, the staging is ingenious, the idiosyncrasies of the cast are enchanting, and as the light gloams and fades over the park it is easy to forget that the woods are just trees, and the trees are just wood.
Until September 11 • 0844 826 4242
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