Granny Goes Where Others Fear To Tread!

The labyrinth of Stephen Sondheim's mind is a place you would not want to get lost in!

For anything that can spawn the brilliance of the musicals Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, must surely be a fearful environment in which to lose the signal on your sat nav!

This masterpiece of musical theatre was first produced on Broadway in 1987, and gets two airings this year at both the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Last night it was the turn of Leeds to witness Sondheim's knife-wielding Red Riding Hood and her armed-to-the-teeth grandmother; God help anyone who gets in their way, it cost the wolf his hide!

Welcome to the American musical master's 'Woods', a symbolic representation of something between life, the sub conscious, the womb and the past, that dark place where we learn and emerge either richer, wiser, poorer or perhaps, even destroyed by the complexities and cruelty of life.



In this instance the Woods are populated by a range of traditional fairytale characters - Rapunzel, Jack (he of Beanstalk fame), Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, a Giant and, of course a Wicked Witch!

At one level it is an intelligent, clever musical, penned by Sondheim with the book by James Lapine - people often reference it in terms of its comedic value - however, at another, far deeper, psychological level, Into the Woods is a highly complex piece of theatre. Psychiatrists would give their right arm to get Sondheim on the couch!

This dark, unsettling show, like a warm comfortable blanket lined with razor blades, examines the relationship between parents and children and the things each do to the other that shape life for better or worse.

There's the Baker and his absent father, Cinderella and her dead mother, Rapunzel and her adoptive mum, aka the Wicked Witch, and Jack and his single parent mother.

In the first half you are seduced into believing that there will be a happy ending, then the interval; it's amazing how a glass of orange and a toilet break can change the journey of life!

In Act II Sondheim comes at you like a runaway train. The Baker tries to rob Red Riding Hood of her cloak, Rapunzel is punished for hooking up with the Prince and goes loopy, we see the Witch's loneliness and Cinderella's Royal spouse having a one night stand with the Baker's wife! Sometimes life is down and dirty.



I loved Director James Brining's staging, establishing the link between adult and child with an opening set located in the school classroom.

This is the first major collaboration between the Playhouse and Opera North, and it was interesting to observe the company of singers working with an out-of-sight up-stage orchestra in an in-the-round playing area.

Microphones too were anathema to the 24 strong cast but they were all brilliant, occasionally holding back their amazing voices, ever aware that they would blow the roof off if they gave full vent to their operatic vocal chords!

Claire Pascoe as the Witch was wonderfully devious but, as is so often the case, such characters have the advantage of extremity - The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the MC in Cabaret, Scrooge and so on; nevertheless, a great, seamless performance, loved by a capacity audience.
And Red Riding Hood (Helen Evora) and her Granny (Rachel J Mosley) might have been throw away characters but for their blood smeared complexions and all-pervading desire to take on all comers! Not a duo to meet in a dark alley. Both suitably psychotic!

The show is not light and fluffy, it makes you think and is best summed up by my fellow theatre goer who left the auditorium with the comment: "I don't know if I am uplifted or depressed!"



Well done Brining and Opera North. A great collaboration.

Years ago when I worked at the Yorkshire Evening Post there was a photographer, Ernest Brook and few knew that he used to correspond with Stephen Sondheim.

He always started his letters with courtesy and respect, Dear Mr Sondheim....... What might he have said about Into the Woods?

He would probably have written: "Dear Mr Sondheim I saw your Into the Woods last night and, do forgive me, but I must borrow a phrase from my News Editor, Geoffrey Hemingway, quite frankly, it was a little belter."

Into the Woods
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Until June 25 (2016)