Before there was Grimm, Enchanted or even Shrek, there was Steven Sondheim’s two and a half hour Into the Woods, the 1986 musical that asks the important question, “What happens after happily ever after?”
Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Theatre Company, under the direction of artistic director Sheri Lee Miller and musical director Lucas Sherman, has taken on this marathon of a musical, now running through Oct. 12.
Following a Baker (Noah Vondralee-Sternhill) and his wife (Megan Bartlett) as they try to remove a curse placed on them by their next-door witch (Daniela Innocenti Beem), their journey into the woods overlaps with a book’s worth of Grimm Brothers’ characters.
There are some impressive production values here, along with excellent acting and singing. The orchestra under Sherman’s direction is excellent, efficiently dealing with a few opening night line snafus. Even the props (by Mary Jo Hamilton) look good enough to eat.
It’s also rare to find a performer who is both an actor and a singer. This production was blessed with quite a few of them. Molly Larsen Shine as Jack’s Mother, Andrew Cedeño as Jack, Nicole Stanley as Little Red, along with Beem and Bartlett, are a few of the standouts.
Sam Coughlin as Milky White, however, steals the show, though he has no lines. Puppetry is challenging; creating a stylized puppet cow that dances, cries and elicits empathy requires a great deal of hard work and raw talent.
Sadly, not everything was top-notch. There were some odd choices made, such as in the Prince and the Baker’s Wife scene, where she gives in to him right away, robbing the scene of its usual tension. Similarly, although the overall staging was good, Karen Miles’ choreography of the finales was confusing. It formed pretty stage pictures that did not further the story or account for the plot. There was also the choice by Vondralee-Sternhill (who must be noted is a fantastic singer) to play the Baker with low stakes, robbing the plot of some of its vitality.
All that being said, at the opening night curtain call, a small boy ran up to the edge of the orchestra pit to enthusiastically applaud the actors. Look, I can (and will) critique all I want, but in the end, all of us are just trying to tell the best story we can. And if one of our shows inspires the next generation like this one obviously did, that’s what actually matters.
‘Into the Woods’ runs through Oct. 12 in the Codding Theater at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Ln., Rohnert Park. Fri-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $16–$42. 707.588.3400. spreckelsonline.com.
