KINGSTON — "Into The Woods,” the Tony Award-winning musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, opens tonight for a six-show run at the Robert E. Will Theatre in the University of Rhode Island's Fine Arts Center.
A production of the university's theater department, the modern classic is known for intricately blending the plots of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The musical follows Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Jack (of beanstalk fame) while tying things together with the Baker and his Wife, who want to start a family but have been cursed by the Witch. To lift the curse, they have three days to bring the Witch Red Riding Hood’s cape, a lock of Rapunzel’s hair, Cinderella’s golden slippers and Jack’s cow.
“It’s like two different musicals in tone,” says director Tracy Liz Miller, assistant professor in theater. “In the second act, we’re reintroduced to the same characters. It’s happily ever after — but is it? It’s fascinating. We’ve all grown up with these stories and what happens at the end of the book. Happily ever after isn’t really reality. No one is immortal, no one is without sickness or hardship.”
"One of the things that makes this show so popular is its enchanting nature,” says Naomi Tyler of Warwick, who plays the Witch. “The mystical qualities of each character and their stories make it so easy for the audience to fall into that world. However, underneath the gorgeous voices and costumes remains a story of love, loss, chosen family, deception and pain. I believe there is a lesson in the show for absolutely everyone.”
Along with the production team, Miller has gotten help from theatre professor Paula McGlasson, who directed URI’s 2003 production of “Into The Woods,” and many other Sondheim musicals. Also, visiting artist Esther Zabinski, a professional musician and conductor based in Rhode Island, has played an important role as music director. The show has music front to back — with about 90 “distinct musical starting points” and a 12-piece orchestra.
“Steven Sondheim’s work is the Shakespeare of musicals,” said Miller. “It takes a very talented, skilled music director to not only teach the music to the actors but also conduct the orchestra alongside the show.”
While the play has captured the hearts of millions, it is full of marginalized characters, socioeconomic and gender bias, ableism, and some very nasty deeds — all common in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales that serve as its source material, Miller says.
In exploring their own characters, the actors have been focusing on the stories of those marginalized characters.
“We’re tasked with training our next professional actors to enter the world and we’re dealing with questions we don’t know the answers to,” she says. “We’re asking who deserves to be living, who deserves to have safety. Those are the conversations we’re having.
“We honor the playwrights’ work,” she adds. “And if we honor it, we should allow the audience to ask the questions themselves. Our work allows the audience to come to their own conclusions and how they feel about that.”
— Nancy Burns-Fusaro
