A Review of Into the Woods

photo by Jackie Blake Jensen Photography

by Sharon Falduto  

Iowa City - Stephen Sondheim’s 1986 musical Into the Woods has cast a powerful spell on audiences for nearly 30 years and is always popular in revival, which is why the corridor was able to support two performances of the show in the same season that Disney released a movie.

My 11 year old daughter sold Girl Scout cookies to the cast of City Circle Acting Company of Coralville’s Into the Woods when they were still rehearsing in their street clothes. Without the benefit of props, costumes, or set, she stood enthralled as the actors dug into the prologue of the piece. Naturally, she was my accompaniment for the premiere of the show on April 24, 2015.

The show interweaves and overlaps several Grimm fairy tales. We see Cinderella, longing to go to the King’s Festival but hindered by her wicked stepmother and stepsisters. Jack, of future Beanstalk fame, and his mother are in desperate need of food, and his mother demands that he sell his pet cow, Milky White. Little Red Riding Hood is off to visit her Granny, but runs into some trouble along the way. A childless Baker and his Wife long for the child who does not come. A wicked witch explains that she has cast a spell on the Baker’s family that his household will always be barren (which, if you think about it, is a pretty short-sighted spell). The only way to overcome the spell is for the Baker to retrieve four objects; “the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold.”

City Circle Presents Into the Woods April 24-May 3

Coralville - Venture back Into the Woods as City Circle Acting Company of Coralville presents the Tony Award-winning musical classic by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, April 24-May 3 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

Follow a baker and his wife as they struggle to meet the demands of a vengeful witch so that they may have their hearts’ desire—a child of their own. On their journey in and out of the woods, they meet a woman fleeing a ball, a girl with extraordinary hair, a cow-sick boy, a sweet-loving granddaughter, a couple of princes, and at least one giant.


"I remember listening to the cassette tape of the original cast in 1987 before ever seeing the show on stage. I imagined what the show would look like--how the stories would be told in the theater. I'm thrilled to be able to work with this all-star cast to bring this vision finally to life,” says director Chris Okiishi. “Even though these are Fairy Tale characters and the stories are firmly based in the Brothers Grimm, I think our audiences will relate in a very real way to the characters' triumphs and struggles. And who hasn't wondered what happens after 'Happily Ever After'?"

Check Out April Events at CCPA

Coralville - You might want to check out these upcoming events at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

UI School of Music presents The RivalsApril 9-12

UI School of Music presents this story of misguided deceptions between several sets of lovers and would-be lovers, with deceptions unraveling into hopeless tangles before resolving with a classic comic-opera ending. With music and libretto by Kirke Mechem, The Rivals was an instant hit when it premiered at Skylight Opera in 2011.
Tickets ($5-$20) are available through the Hancher Box Office.

Auditions for City Circle's Into the Woods

Coralville - "Into the Woods is Stephen Sondheim's beloved musical about what happens after "happily ever after."

Actors ages 12 and above are welcome to audition. Casting will be age appropriate. The mysterious man and narrator will not be double cast. The wolf and prince will be double cast. The cow will be cast with a human actor. There are also roles for up to five ensemble people who will double as stage crew and various characters.

Please bring sheet music in the correct key for a one-minute section of a song that shows your ability to communicate a character.

Auditions are Saturday, January 31 and Sunday, February 1 from 2pm-6pm at the Community of Christ Church in Coralville. Signups and more information here."


Source: CCPA newsletter

Into the Woods Murky Yet Powerful

by Genevieve Heinrich
Photos by Shannon Struttmann

Janelle Steichen as the Baker's Wife

Cedar Rapids - Fairy tales are more than just the cornerstone of Theatre Cedar Rapids 81st season. They are, perhaps, the cornerstone of Western society. There's no flippancy in my statement... much of what we learn as children, during our peak formative years, comes from the lessons taught in these perennial bedtime stories.

At least, it used to.

Into the Woods is composer Stephen Sondheim's exploration of where we went wrong. He asked the question - familiar to us now, but just beginning to burst into the world's consciousness in the mid-1980s, when this was written - "What happens next?" The Disney-fied, sanitized happily ever after was no longer enough, and Sondheim joined the ranks of contemporary authors like Charles de Lint and Jane Yolen in insisting that these characters were (and always had been) more than just archetypes. With James Lapine (who wrote the book) he delves into the realities of these characters' lives, and pursues the ways that the same ambitions that got them what they wanted continued to affect their lives.

Theatre Cedar Rapids has assembled a formidable crew to tackle this ambitious musical. The set for this show (Scenic Designer: Bret Goethe; Scenic Artist: Daniel Kelchen) was a true stand-out. It's beauty was nothing short of magical, between the colors and the few simple but highly effective moving elements and above all else, the moon. Also contributing to the stunning visual effects were (with a few minor exceptions) the costumes, by Joni Sackett.