Review: INTO THE WOODS at Musical Theatre Southwest

When I heard that MTS was doing Into the Woods, my first thought was “Wow – that’s ……ambitious.” Sondheim is always ambitious, but MTS was able to hit Sweeney Todd out of the park last year, so why did Into the Woods feel like such a giant leap forward for this creative and stalwart community theater?

Maybe it’s the music – you don’t just need one or two standout voices, they ALL have to be standout. MTS delivers here – the company, whether singing solo or as an ensemble, are always on point.  Also, the orchestrations of Into the Woods are no joke –the 10-piece orchestra delivered fantastic accompaniment and the conducting was top notch.

Maybe it’s the staging – Into the Woods has cows, giants, flying birds, castles in the sky and people getting eaten by wolves. Could this little black box handle it? In a word, yes. The innovative staging (big props to Scenic Designer Gloria Goodman and Master Carpenter Bob Dein) placed the activity squarely in the middle of Drag Storytime inside the local library. Moving panels of books, flying books depicting birds, clever use of screens with pantomime and some interesting lighting effects (courtesy of Lighting Designer Banx Tenorio), and the audience in a more proscenium configuration made for a believable and exciting setting.

Maybe it’s the length – at just over 90 minutes, the first act is, well, LONG. Thanks to the house manager and staff, the audience was fully aware of that and encouraged to use the facilities before the show. Amazingly NO ONE MOVED for all of act one!

So let’s get to the action: once all my doubts were extinguished, this was an incredibly enjoyable performance. The plot of Into the Woods is a mashup of several fairy tales, including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and a Baker, his wife and a Witch are thrown in for some reason.

The reason? The witch has laid a spell on the couple so they can’t ever conceive a child – to reverse the curse she sends them on a quest to bring her several ingredients. Along the way they meet up with various fairy tale characters on their own quests for wish fulfillment – to find a prince, to find their future, to get to granny in the woods. Act one is the quest, act two is the aftermath – what happens when you get everything you want?

There were several standout performances, including Joliana Davidson as the Witch, Madison Dodd as Cinderella, Adam Tedesco as Jack and Matt Miller as the Baker. Agony, the duet sung by the two princes (Colin Burdge and R. Adam Berndt) was a wonderful comic moment. It was refreshing to see so many new faces and MTS debuts in this production.

Musical Theatre Southwest continues to impress and raise the bar for community theater in Albuquerque. Into the Woods is a must-see and if our audience was any indication, the remainder of the run will sell out soon.

A couple small suggestions to the company before the weekend: please put your narrator (Brian Clifton) in better shoes – theirs are too high, even for a drag queen – we were worried that they were going to trip!  The lighting is not without some glitches as well – we know they’re in the woods, but that doesn’t mean they have to be in the dark.

Finally, a note to house management – you might want to rethink your policy of food and drink in the theater. This is the third production in a row with crinkling water bottles and candy wrappers. It’s not necessary, honestly – anyone can go 90 minutes without food!

Nitpickiness aside, go see Into the Woods.  More than once if you can.

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