Into the Woods

Monday night I had the good fortune of being able to see Into the Woods at the Hale Center Theatre in West Valley, by recommendation of my roommate from last year and good friend Ronnie, who played Snow White in the Monday Wednesday Friday cast.

EXCLAMATORY PHRASES!!!!

What an amazing production! First off, you need to understand the deep love I feel for this show to begin with. It was my first introduction to Stephen Sondheim. Twice. First, as a wee lass I saw Richland High do it when Curtis went there. He was Cinderella's father. It was my first taste AGAIN when I actually started LISTENING to Sondheim back in high school. It's a contender for my favorite musical EVER, right up there with Company. They trade spots depending on my mood. At any rate, I love this musical already. Second, the cast did SUCH an incredible job. There were some nitpicky things that only those who were already familiar with the play would notice. I mean, no one can compare to Tom Aldredge (the narrator in the original cast) or Bernadette Peters (ever), of course. Some were just trying too hard to imitate. Overall tho? Wow. I completely fell in love with Jack:) And everybody else. Third, the STAGE was amazing. It was theatre-in-the-round. so it was a tiny round stage with the audience (of about 200) seated all around. That's awesome in its own right, but the stage ROTATED. And there was a track all around it that rotated! So there was constant motion. Not to the point of being distracting, of courswe. Just to the point of being amazing and marvelous and fantastic:)

By the end of the show I was trembling and bawling and completely overcome with emotion. It was awesome! I could hardly walk, my legs were all jelly. Then, on the way out, I got to see Ronnie and she introduced me to Paul who played Jack!!! I was all agog. Then I shook Cinderella's father's hand and told him that my brother played him in high school. THe last one I saw was the Baker!!! Whooooaaaa baker. He was so good! I was so delirious that I walked right into the door as it was swinging shut ahead of me lol. I'm still so obsessed lol. Can ya tell? I've been listening to the soundtrack a ton and I watched the DVD today. I love it!