"this is the first actual proper major Sondheim revival to be staged in this country since the great man's passing. And the main thing worth saying about 1986's Into the Woods is that it's the work of a genius at the peak of his powers: a clever send up of fairytales that pushes familiar stories into absurd, existential, eventually very moving territory. It's both playful and profound, mischievous and sincere, cleverly meta but also a ripping yarn."
"While Sondheim is the marquee name, the book and lyrics are by James Lapine (who also did the honours for Sunday in the Park with George and ). He naturally does a tremendous job - his lyrics are sometimes hilariously bathetic, sometimes formally audacious, sometimes devastatingly poignant, often all three in a single song. But every second is filled with Sondheim's presence: his lush, motif-saturated score of baroque nursery rhymes feels as vividly alive as the forest itself."
The Bridge Theatre has staged two notable musicals in succession, culminating in Jordan Fein's sumptuous revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. The 1986 show is a clever send-up of fairytales that pushes familiar stories into absurd, existential and ultimately moving territory, combining playfulness with profound emotional depth. James Lapine's book and lyrics alternate between bathetic humour, formal audacity and devastating poignancy, often within a single song. Sondheim's lush, motif-saturated score of baroque nursery rhymes animates the forest setting. Fein's production navigates the musical's fiddly complexities through exceptional casting, anchoring the story in the grounded performances of Jamie Parker and Katie Brayben while relying on a strong ensemble of singing character actors.
Read at Time Out London
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