Jennifer Chung Klam

San Diego Arts

'Into the Woods' at Starlight Theatre

even flowers have their dangers...
By Jennifer Chung Klam
Posted on Jul 15 2008
Last updated Jul 15 2008

The fractured fairy tale “Into the Woods,” with music by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, begins with a wish. Several wishes, actually.

There are a few things one might wish for in any Starlight Theatre production, where the award-winning musical is now playing 22 years after its debut at The Old Globe. You might wish the planes didn’t fly directly overhead, disrupting scenes and making it impossible to hear the lyrics. You might wish the amplification system didn’t give everything a slightly muffled sound. Or that the microphones didn’t cut in and out.

Old familiar gripes, for sure, and some that can’t be helped. But they still hurt this otherwise appealing production. Sondheim lyrics you want to hear -- and many clever, funny and serious lines were lost during flyovers.

The production, under Brian Wells’ direction, begins promisingly, when the curtain rises on J. Branson’s whimsical forest set and Tanya Bishop’s storybook costumes.

Cinderella wishes to go to the ball, the Baker’s Wife wishes for a baby, Jack wishes to keep his cow, and the Witch wishes to be beautiful again. To fulfill their desires, they all venture into the woods, where their stories – along with a few others – humorously collide. By the end of the frothy and frivolous first act, their wishes have come true.

Leigh Scarritt hams it up as the cackling, rapping Witch. While delightfully sinister both before and after her transformation, direction, costuming and lighting conspire to render the metamorphosis from withered hag to beauteous woman anticlimactic.

After intermission, “happily ever after” turns darker, and the characters find that wishes have their price. As they make their way through the thicket of childish wishes to adulthood, they are introduced to the pain of regrets, failures, betrayals and loss.

Tom Andrew and Carly Nykanen lead this mostly strong ensemble as the Baker and the Baker’s Wife. Andrew brings depth to the role and his emotional “No More,” and Nykanen gets the humor just right. She manages well despite having one foot in a cast – and even pulls off a joke about it.

Sarah Bermudez brings a lovely voice and understated humor to the reluctantly pursued Cinderella, while Lili Fuller sasses it up as Little Red Ridinghood. Michael Grant Hall seemed to miss a few cues as Narrator, but was better as the Mysterious Man. Paul Peglar’s impetuous and dim-witted Jack, with his (looks like real) shock of curly carrot-top hair, surprises with a mature, warm voice.

Jason Heil, who played Cinderella’s royal stalker with such panache in Lamb’s Players Theatre’s 2006 production of “Into the Woods,” brings the same puffed up princely charm to his role here as Rapunzel’s Prince. His duet with Maricio Mendoza as the other prince in “Agony” remains a comedic highlight.

Still, the musical manages to feel both rushed and lethargic at the same time. The fairy tale denizens dash about the stage in their numerous entrances and exits, and some lines are delivered too fast -- yet the show seems to drag through its nearly three hours.

On balance, the show is certainly not bad, not entirely good -- it’s, well, nice.

About the author: Jennifer Chung Klam is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer.
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