Archive: Arts & Entertainment

An ambivalent Cinderella? A blood-thirsty Little Red Riding Hood? A Prince Charming with a roving eye? A Witch...who raps? They're all among the cockeyed characters in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's fractured fairy tale, Into the Woods. Running to Places’ (R2P) production, August 16-18 at the State Theatre of Ithaca, is a Tony Award-winning musical appropriate to all ages (but probably best enjoyed by children eight and older).

When a Baker (Josiah Rawlings) and his Wife (Sari Koppel) learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch (Allie Young) next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella (Bretana Turkon), Little Red (Keara Byron), Rapunzel (Charlotte Senders) and beanstalk-climbing Jack (Matthew Skrovan). Everyone's wish is granted at the end of Act One, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later, with disastrous results. What begins as a lively, irreverent fantasy in the style of “The Princess Bride” becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.

One of Sondheim's most popular works, Into The Woods is a difficult work to stage, but Producing Artistic Director Gail Belokur says R2P’s company is ready for the challenge. “While all our young artists are talented, this is a particularly strong cast of experienced actors,” she says. “This is going to be an amazing show.”

As an alum of R2P himself, music director Jeremy Pletter (a rising senior at Ithaca College’s School of Music) is adept at guiding the cast through the challenging score. “There is genius in every measure of Sondheim's score,” he says. “Every note and rest has a purpose. The talent and musicianship of this cast is fully able to do justice to the piece."

The musical is based on the book written by James Lapine, and is being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp. "The show delivers Grimm's fairy tales just as you'd expect them, and Act 1 ends with happy endings for most. Act 2, however, is when things get real - it's what happens when you get everything you wish for and realize it's not what you expected," says director Joey Steinhagen.

R2P’s production also focuses on the relationships between parents and their children, notes Belokur. “We explore how the hopes and dreams parents have surrounding their children can result in a loss of balance.”

In a departure from the traditional staging, Steinhagen has turned the character of Milky White from a prop into an actor. “As Milky White, Maddie Vandenberg’s comic timing and creativity shine. She gets big laughs without ever uttering (uddering?) a single word."

Set designer David L. Arsenault brings the fairy tale pages to life, with the foliage of the wood’s trees made out of book pages while Tyler M. Perry’s lighting evokes the mystery of those lost in the woods. Choreographer Emily Loewus takes full advantage of the experienced cast, using movement, gesture, and shapes to reveal characters and advance the story.

v9i28