Into the Woods first premiered on Broadway in 1987, winning three Tony Awards including Best Score and Best Book. It has since been produced throughout the world and was adapted into a major motion picture in 2014. This production marks its first time on Broadway in 20 years.
This revival, with its pared down set design (Tony Award winner David Rockwell) and onstage orchestra looks and feels like a stage concert, the best you’ll ever see. Director Lear deBessonet moves the ensemble expertly allowing Sondheim’s score to shine. Nominated for six Tony’s including Best Revival, the creative crew of Andrea Hood (Costume Design), Tyler Micoleau (Lighting Design), Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer & Alex Neumann (Co-Sound Designers), and Cookie Jordan (Hair, Wigs & Makeup Design) all deserve accolades.
With such a wealth of world-class talent, it’s difficult to single out standouts among this enchanted ensemble. Every great fairy tale thrives on its antagonist, and Montego Glover gives a powerhouse interpretation of the not-entirely-wicked Witch whose spiteful curse sets the plot in motion. I was initially distracted by how much costumer Andrea Hood makes Glover look like Yogurt from Spaceballs, but once her inner diva is unleashed she gives Bernadette Peters and Vanessa Williams a run for their money on her iconic “Last Midnight” aria. Gavin Creel’s Prince is a comically callow Ken doll, while David Patrick Kelly (of Twin Peaks fame) makes the oft-reinvented role of Narrator/Mysterious Man feel essential once again.
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