Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Eamon Flack
Orchestrations & Musical Supervision by Guy Simposn
Belvoir
14 April, 2023
5 out of 5 Fans (Though, sadly, fully sold out through the rest of its run)
Seating at Belvoir
I’m a big fan of getting the best seat to enjoy the show, so my quick tip for Belvoir. We were sitting on the right-hand side and I was sitting on the interior aisle.Great seats at Belvoir definitely sitting on the aisle is always ideal because the sight line are great from wherever you’re sitting generally. But with the seating, they aren’t defined seats. So, it’s better to kind of sit down the aisle because it’s just a bit easier to get in and out and might be a little bit more comfortable. That’s what I’ve found anyway – interested to hear what others think?
The Plot
Into The Woods is essentially an amalgamation of different fairy tales. You have Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood. The musical takes all of these parables, where you generally learn some kind of an ethical lesson and it mashes them together. By doing so, the musical highlights both the simplicity of these moral lessons, but also how they falter when it comes to applying them to real life, which is vastly more complex.
Act One is all about getting to a happily ever after. Act Two is what happens after happily ever after: Humanity is never satisfied, and craves for ‘more’. Our actions have consequences. An entire song is devoted to a lack of accountability and responsibility. The musical is a wonderful study in what it means to live in a society, where you may have to sacrifice things for the good of the many as opposed to the good of the one.
The Production
I really did not know what to expect with this production of Into The Woods. I’ve only ever seen it staged on really large stages with lots of props and set pieces. So, I was interested to see how it was going to work in the Belvoir space, which, if you aren’t familiar, is a sort of half blackbox, half arena. The word I’m going to keep using is surprising. Surprising & Delightful.
I knew the show was going to be a high quality because Belvoir always produces awesome stuff, but with this production they just kept surprising us. Which isn’t easy to do for a musical as well known as Into the Woods. It was delightful the various ways that they brought this show to life.
Some spoilers will follow. So, if you do not want to be spoiled, go see the show and then come back later!
The Cast
Gosh! Where to start? I’ll start with the Witch (Tamsin Carroll), and all I can say is, “Meryl who?”. It was a unique portrayal of the witch, but at no point did it feel like it didn’t belong. The actress employed some stunning and hilarious accent work, a sort of Germanic/Scandanavian confluence that was hysterical. This felt appropriate, and it harkened back to the origin of these fairy tales, from Brother’s Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, etc. About halfway through, the With undergoes a transformation of sorts, and whew! Carroll took the transformation into the sultry flapper was visually arresting. Mad props to the costume team (led by Micka Agosta), as all of the costumes were stunning.
Side note, I was delighted to see that Tamsin Carroll was actually a familiar face. I have watched Everybody’s Talking About Jamie from the West End (original cast) a few dozen times on YouTube, and seeing Carroll in the digital programme, I instantly knew it was her. What a special surprise!
Next, the ubiqitous Marty Alix. I think this is the forth production I’ve seen them in (Spamalot, Hamilton, Bring It On), and I’m always impressed at their range. I felt like Alix’s Jack was dumber than I’ve seen before, but that’s the fun thing about this character. Despite Jack’s daftness, Alix played the innocence in the character adorably. And Giants In The Sky is a personal favourite of mine, and I absolutely loved Alix’s rendition of that.
The Baker’s Wife (Esther Hannaford) was phenomenal. The role is hugely important and visible and gets some of the most beautiful songs in the show. But what I wasn’t expecting was the comedy! Hannaford’s Baker’s Wife was intelligent and hilarious. She stood out to me as well.
Hannaford has excellent chemistry with the Baker, played by Justin Smith. Considering I last saw Justin Smith in Dubbo Championsip Wrestling, in a singlet, this was (again) surprising and delightful! Justin brought “dad” vibes to the Baker – responsible, considerate, and with great comic timing!
Another stand out in this cast for me was The Wolf, played by Tim Draxl’s abs–when you see the show, tell me if you can look away from his perfectly displayed torso, accentuated by the best interpretation of Wolf costuming I’ve ever seen. I
actually did not even realise that was Tim Draxl at first.
The production didn’t go too literal with “Wolf” and instead leaned into the danger and sexuality of the role in the costuming. This was the best Wolf portrayal I’ve seen, between Draxl’s delivery, the costume and the staging. Draxl, like many others, played dual roles, and he was also a delight as Cinderella’s Prince, but man, the Wolf made far more of an impression!
Rapunzel’s Prince (Andrew Coshan) was also double cast with Lucinda, Cinderella’s Stepsister, and played both roles incredibly well. Coshan played off of Florinda (Stefanie Caccamo) brilliantly. Coshan and Draxl also had wonderful chemistry as the agonised Princes. The hot pink bustier underneath the Coshan’s jacket as the Prince was an inspired decision.
Caccamo had a few great moments as well, as the slightly digested Granny. Rapunzel imitating the Witch’s accent was hilarious, and Caccamo nailed Tamsin Carroll’s comical inflections.
I was most impressed with the way the double cast roles/actors swapped between roles instantly in during the ‘First Midnight’, ‘Second Midnight’ and ‘Into the Woods’ numbers.
And a special shout out to the spry Peter Carroll, a brilliant narrator and thrower of confetti – an important convention suggesting a character has vanished. The role was quite ‘meta’ and self aware, and while it is written that way, Carroll leaned into these bits to uproarious effect.
The cast was superb from start to end. Cinderella (Shubshri Kandiah) sang beautifully, though I feel she had less to do than some of the other leading roles. Little Red Riding Hood (Mo Lovegrove) was far more vicious in this production, which I found hilarious. And if Jack’s Mother (Lena Cruz) looks familiar, when she’s not basking in the wealth of stolen giant gold, she was also recently featured on Wellmania (as Lorraine’s coworker, Mary).
Cinderella’s stepmother (Anne Maree McDonald) was also playing one of the pianos which sat centre stage for the full show. Seeing her slide in and out of her roles was magic, particularly the contrast from the ambitious and sly stepmother to a silently observing musician (when she wasn’t playing).
Closing
I’ve touched on maybe 30% of the production. Hopefully you can see what I meant when I referred to the show as surprising & delightful. And trust me, there are so many more surprises in store – it is truly something to behold. The cast are beyond talented and superbly capable, and the staging in a space like Belvoir felt both intimate and dangerous.
The only criticism I have is I wish it was running longer <3