After more than a decade, “Into the Woods” returns to San Francisco Playhouse through Jan. 17, whisking audiences into the faraway land of fairytale.
The iconic Tony Award-winning musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine opened its run Nov. 20, and it largely lives up to expectations.
“Into the Woods” features an ensemble of fairytale characters: Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella, Jack (from the beanstalk), charming princes and an evil witch. Alongside a baker and his wife who are desperate to have children, the ensemble finds everything it dreamed of at the end of Act 1, only for everything to fall apart in Act 2. The musical’s complex weaving of characters, storylines, melodies and morality complicates traditional fairytale notions of good and evil — something that’s especially relevant in today’s increasingly polarized climate.
The first thing audiences notice upon entering the theater is scenic designer Heather Kenyon’s gorgeous set, complete with a lush forest where vines wrap around trees and a small wooden bridge in the foreground. Later in the production, smoke emanates from The Baker’s oven and a tree trunk rotates to reveal Rapunzel’s tower.
As the show gets started, the cast expertly executes Sondheim’s often tricky lyrics and melodies, apart from some minute wavers in tempo. Standouts in the ensemble include Phil Wong as The Baker and Ruby Day as The Baker’s Wife, both of whom deliver compelling performances. Wong is especially stirring as he sobs during “No More.” Aside from that couple, Jillian A. Smith and Olivia Hellman hold their own as Cinderella and Little Red Ridinghood, respectively.
More eye-catching than the human cast, however, is how the production portrays the show’s various animal characters. For example, the giant’s hen is a puppet whose convincing pecks were performed incredibly well by the cast members who were holding her at any given time, particularly Wong’s Baker and William I. Schmidt’s Jack.
Instead of double casting one prince as the wolf, both princes (Trevor March and Johann Santiago Santos) play both man and beast. Having the two obnoxious male suitors also play the two vicious predators brings audiences back to last year’s viral debates about running into a man or a bear in the woods — when all is said and done, which is the worse option anyhow?
The elderly cow Milky White, played by Maureen McVerry, really stole the show. As the other actors banter on stage, Milky White eats tree leaves and bumbles about, perfectly capturing bovine mannerisms. Her chemistry with Jack, who is tasked with selling her, is electric. At the start of Act 2, Milky White wears stylish sunglasses while Jack’s Mother (Eiko Moon-Yamamoto) reads a copy of “Cowsmopolitan” magazine. When not dressed up as a cow, McVerry also plays Granny and voices the Giant in Act 2.
However, some choices seem out of place. Matt Kizer draws upon his Indigenous heritage in his portrayal of the Narrator and Mysterious Man, but the only perceptible difference between the two characters is whether Kizer is wearing a specific patterned shawl. At one point, the Mysterious Man dies on stage, and Kizer immediately stands up again and slips into the role of Narrator, suddenly forcing viewers to process the jarring switch. And after his narration, he far too often is left watching motionlessly at the side of the stage.
Although Dave Dobrusky directed a fantastic live pit orchestra accompaniment, the music could only be heard through the amplified speakers, diminishing its effect. As a result, Sondheim’s beautiful score sounded a bit more mundane than it should have.
Such missteps, however, don’t stop the cast and crew from delivering the musical’s message.
Throughout the production, the Witch (Allison Ewing) moves through a set of variations on the same refrain: “Children should listen,” “children won’t listen” and “children will listen.” At a time when us-versus-them rhetoric is all too dominant, San Francisco Playhouse offers a reminder to viewers to raise children (and teach themselves) to understand other’s lives, recover from mistakes and deal with a complicated world.