Into the Woods - Hollywood Bowl

Posted: 7/27/19 at 11:08am

I've been in Los Angeles the last 2 weeks visiting family and when I found out my trip overlapped with Into the Woods at the Hollywood Bowl I immediately bought a ticket. All I can say is wow. Just wow. For only 2 weeks of rehearsal, this was of the highest quality. This cast! My word. Brilliant. I think Sutton Foster as The Baker's Wife is one of the most incredible performances I have seen onstage. I hadn't seen her onstage in years and to see what a gifted, subtle, and simple actress she is was a treat. I can't wait to have her back on Broadway. Everyone was just wonderful. Patina Miller was everything The Witch should be: sexy, mysterious, sassy, glamorous, heartbreaking. Skylar Astin was precious and moving. Cheyenne Jackson was HOT. Not to mention that glorious voice. I missed it. I forgot all about Shanice Williams from The Wiz Live! Her Little Red was adorable and precocious. Gaten Mattarrazo was so sweet as Jack! The audience just loved him. Hailey Kilgore is becoming one of my favorite new performers. She has a bright future for sure. Edward Hibbert was a hoot! Lastly, Sierra Boggess. Wow. She really surprised me. I have seen her a lot but not like this. Her Cinderella was unlike any other interpretation. She moved me beyond my expectations. Perhaps the best part of the night was getting to see all of the original costumes. I started to weep when the show started because of it. I can vividly remember being a child watching my VHS tape o the original cast. I would have a blanket around my neck and would pretend to be Bernadette singing Last Midnight. Seeing the costumes again with this cast using them was a profound experience.

Since I'm sure many of you would love to see this production but live far away, I found some Youtube links of songs that I would love to share with you all! I hope you enjoy. Anytime I see or listen to this show I marvel at its brilliance. This show can help me in any stage of my life, no matter what I'm dealing with. Thank you, Mr. Sondheim and Mr. Lapine!!

Cheyenne Jackson & Sutton Foster - Any Moment, Moments in the Woods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvQRad0ey_w

Sierra Boggess - On the Steps of the Palace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP31B3_M5A4

Patina Miller - Last Midnight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTWsyqbZlXk

Cheyenne Jackson & Chris Carmack - Agony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngA2aJ90d2I

Skylar Astin & Anthony Crivello - No More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJhZ1xmvw8

Cheyenne Jackson & Shanice Williams - Hello, Little Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2wZrp3VJeY

Skylar Astin & Sutton Foster - It Takes Two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7-a7R_2ggg

Shanice Williams, Gaten Matarazzo, Sierra Boggess, Patina Miller - Your Fault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apHMYNzp75k

Shanice Williams - I Know Things Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl2Qc2dbw2s

Patina Miller - Witch's Lament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxJSFNJ998

Patina Miller - Stay With Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZLVGBIyRSM

 

Have a wonderful day! :) 

Posted: 7/27/19 at 11:50am

Also, if anyone else is seeing the production please share your thoughts! I'd love to hear.

[conealpetterson]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 12:31pm

I was there last night as well and really loved this production. Into the Woods is one of my favorite musicals. The standouts for me were Patina Miller, Skylar Astin, and Sierra Boggess. Miller’s witch was sexy and sassy and she put her own spin on her strong vocals. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed Astin as the Baker. Both his acting and vocals were wonderful. The Baker can come off as very whiney - but his interpretation brought a tenderness and likability to the character. I thought Boggess’s performance was outstanding. Her vocals were stellar and she brought the perfect amount of humor and emotion to the role. I also loved Cheyenne Jackson as Cinderella’s prince. He was the arrogant, funny jerk that the prince should be.

I love Sutton Foster and she was a lot of fun as the Baker’s wife. I am so used to Joanna Gleason’s vocals on the songs that it took me a bit to adjust to Foster’s voice - she had to bring some of the notes down a key - but she is just radiant on the stage. Her Any Moment/Moments in the Woods with Jackson was delicious.

I loved Shanice Wiliams’s acting - but she struggled a bit doing the cutesy Little Red voice. I felt like she settled into it more in Act 2. Gaten Matarazzo was cute as Jack and his voice was good, but I could tell it has been a while since he has done live theater and others in the cast outshone him.

Overall, it was a delightful evening and I left with a smile on my face.

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 12:39pm

Am seeing it tonight and am now very excited. These reports are wonderful to read.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 12:41pm

From the footage I’ve seen, Sutton doesn’t appear to take any of the keys down. Unless my ear is off she’s singing the songs in the original keys.

Posted: 7/27/19 at 12:59pm

IdinaBellFoster said: "From the footage I’ve seen, Sutton doesn’t appear to take any of the keys down. Unless my ear is off she’s singing the songs in the original keys."

Yeah... I thought so too. She sounds lovely!

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 1:02pm

God, they're just as pitch perfect as expected. Hoping this transfers after Sutton finishes Music Man!

[\_(•_•)_/]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 1:22pm

This will not transfer.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 1:27pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "God, they're just as pitch perfect as expected. Hoping this transfers after Sutton finishes Music Man!"

Not happening. She sounds wonderful, but it's a concert production by a director with a very poor track record on Broadway. And if she's on a year contract like Hugh (which Rudin implied in an interview), she won't be done with MUSIC MAN til September 2021.

Could she play the Baker's Wife in a different production of ITW? Maybe. But again... any other stage work for her is going to be 2.5+ years away. And in the past 7 years, New York has seen Into the Woods in the Park (2012, which was going to move til it didn't), on the big screen (2014), and at Roundabout (2015).

Updated On: 7/27/19 at 01:27 PM

Posted: 7/27/19 at 2:38pm

New videos posted:

 

Skylar Astin, Shanice Williams, Gaten Matarazzo, Sierra Boggess - No One Is Alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkH8UXrhMQc

Finale/Children Will Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot0fw9mtvMA

Sutton Foster & Sierra Boggess - A Very Nice Prince: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeYS_gstCns

Cheyenne Jackson & Chris Carmack - Agony (Reprise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlaQztU8Bkw

 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 3:21pm

Everyone sounds fantastic. I have always thought Sutton Foster would make a great Baker's Wife!

[conealpetterson]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 3:25pm

I may be wrong about Sutton bringing some notes down (I am no expert) - but I noticed a few notes here and there like the final note on “If the end is right, it justifies the beans.” She was a delight though. During on of her songs, my friend turned to me and said, “ I just love her.”

I forgot to mention Hailey Kilgore - she was wonderful as Rapunzel, but was underutilized since that is such a small role - especially when they cut “Our Little World.”

Thank you for posting the video so I can relive the evening.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 3:49pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "God, they're just as pitch perfect as expected. Hoping this transfers after Sutton finishes Music Man!"

Transfers !? HA...keeping dreaming girl

[conealpetterson]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 4:00pm

Watching through the videos - i see you had to edit “No More” because of the clapping at the wrong time. People started clapping before the final verse - which I love. I wonder if people were only familiar with the movie - which didn’t include that song.

It was also fun to see Astin’s lyric flub on “Your Fault” again - that look of momentary panic. If you are going to flub a lyric, that is the song that it will happen in.

For doing this in 2-3 weeks, it was amazing. The most distracting flub was the fact that the projection for Cinderella’s mother was out of sync with the singing voice. It reminded me of the part in “Singing in the Rain” where the audio track gets out of sync. Hopefully they will fix that tonight.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 4:27pm

conealpetterson said: "especially when they cut “Our Little World.”"

It's not so much cutting –– they just didn't ADD it back in!

On that subject, what cuts were made for this? I seem to remember from past Hollywood Bowl concerts that due to LA Phil union requirements, the show can't be longer than 2 hours.

[conealpetterson]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 5:19pm

That is a good correction for “Our Little World” since it wasn’t part of the original production. I always feel when it is included it just gives Rapunzel a little more to do. There were no cuts that I noticed. It ran longer than 2 hours. It finished at around 10:40 with one intermission.

Posted: 7/27/19 at 5:25pm

conealpetterson said: "Watching through the videos - i see you had to edit “No More” because of the clapping at the wrong time. People started clapping before the final verse - which I love. I wonder if people were only familiar with the movie - which didn’t include that song.

I wasn't the one who filmed, edited, or posted these videos. Simply came across the account and wanted to share. But yes, I actually got a kick out of that because I had a feeling that maybe not many people there were familiar with that song! 

[Chowd95]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 4:47am

I'd read about this and watched some of the rehearsal interviews but I had no idea they were using the original costume designs. How cool!

[MadViolist]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 5:56am

God I wish they recorded it with this cast, everybody sounds amazing in the videos

[taylortrensch]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 6:16am

i know that it's kind of unlikely seeing that he's busy in a band/eventually going to film more of stranger things/has other stuff going on but it'd be really nice to see gaten back on stage. he's definitely a good stunt cast in case a show ever needed one, though i can't think of a role currently on broadway that he could fill. but still a nice thought

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 11:35am

Robbie2 said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "God, they're just as pitch perfect as expected. Hoping this transfers after Sutton finishes Music Man!"

Transfers !? HA...keeping dreaming girl"

Or at least have Patina, Sierra and Sutton do it again in the future.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 12:07pm

I miss Patina Miller on stage. I really enjoyed the videos of her singing Last Midnight and Stay with Me.

[tjjster]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 2:23pm

I’m pretty sure nothing was cut, but it seems they used the original book/score without the changes or additions made to it over the years.
It was actually really great to see it in this form which is superior to the subsequent incarnations.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 3:49pm

A friend of ours was lucky enough to experience ITW at the Hollywood Bowl and he said:

The cast was PERFECTION...never has a show been so pefectly cast as every single person delivered a terrific performance of one of Sondheim's Best Score not the best show in general but this production was o so thoroughly entertaining. It was totally musical theater BLISS especially for Sondheim fans!

 

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 4:10pm

taylortrensch said: "i know that it's kind ofunlikely seeing that he's busy in a band/eventually going to film more of stranger things/has other stuff going onbut it'd be really nice to see gaten back on stage. he's definitely a good stunt cast in case a show ever needed one, though i can't think of a role currently on broadway that he could fill. but still a nice thought"

He recently was a guest singer at BMC's post-show hangout and sung "More Than Survive", which I felt he did a great job with. He could be a good Jemery, but with the show closing, that's not going to happen. 

 

https://youtu.be/nxQ5yTaUl1w