The Citizen, 2005-09-22, Page 23THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005. PAGE 23
Entertainment jfc Leisure___
Theatre review
‘Into the Woods’ a trip on the dark side
Fantasy world
Amy Walsh as Rapunzel and Susan Gilmour as the Witch appear in a scene from Stratford
Avon’s Into the Woods. (David Hou photo)
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
If you enjoy a trip to the dark side
then /nzo the Woods at Stratford’s
Avon should be just the ticket for
you.
Generally entertaining,
occasionally perplexing and
somewhat disturbing, James
Lapine’s book with music and lyrics
by Stephen Sondheim is an adult
look at fairy tales, the terrors within
and the dream of happily ever after.
In a world where grandmothers
and little girls are devoured by
wolves, where giants seek payback,
where the Avon production may fall
short is that it too rarely succeeds in
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showing us the hope.
Designed by Dany Lyne the over
sized landscape, floury, mime-like
faces and stark black and white
costuming gives the production a
puppet-show quality. With surprises
of colour, particularly with big, bad
wolf and his red-caped quarry, it can
often be quite visually stunning
& *Doe
for
Tyler Stewart &
Heather Campbell
Saturday,
October 1
Blyth Community Centre
Music by D.J.
9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
Lunch Provided
$5.00 in advance
$6.00 at the door
For tickets call
523-4342 or 523-9448 ,
The original production on
Broadway was nominated for 10
Tony awards and won three. It also
won the 1998 New York Drama
Critics Circle Award for best musical
as well as Drama Desk Awards for
outstanding musical, outstanding
lyrics, outstanding book,
outstanding featured actor and
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actress.
The story centres on a baker and
his wife who have been prevented
from having a child by a vengeful
witch. The baker's father had taken
some magic beans from her garden
so she had cursed his son. However,
she promised to lift the curse if he
would bring her the four things she
needs to regain her former youth and
beauty: a cow as while as milk, a
cape as red as blood, hair as yellow
as corn and a slipper as pure as gold.
In setting of? into the woods to
find the items the baker and his wife
are caught up in the adventures of
Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (and
the Beanstalk), Cinderella and
Rapunzel.
Director Peter Hinton stated that
fairly tales are the first literature we
are introduced to as young people
that employ symbolism and
metaphor. They are the first ways in
which we learn that the world of
imagination can help us sort through
our lives.
Z/iZo the Woods’ first act begins the
sorting, but takes some surprising
bleak turns in the second and under
Hinton’s direction displays of
optimism are not inspired.
However, the production has a
large, and praise-worthy cast. Bruce
Dow as the baker is both cherub and
chauvinist, while his wife,
charmingly portrayed by Mary Ellen
Mahoney, bright and independent.
Peter Donaldson is wonderful as
the narrator, while Thom Allison’s
foppish prince and Laird Macintosh
as his brother elicit some of the
biggest laughs. Other notables are
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Country ^Breakfast
Sunday, Sept. 25
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
at
Londesborough Hall
• Eggs • Bacon • Sausage
• Pancakes and Homefries
Sponsored by Londesborough Lions Club
Jennifer Waiser as a Little Red
Riding Hood that's all sugar and
spice, and Dayna Tekatch as
Cinderella.
/nro the Woods is thought
provoking and at times a good deal
of fun, in spite of its darker side. It's
worth a trip if you like your theatre a
little different.
The play is at the Avon Theatre
until Oct. 30.
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