Review: Tennessee Valley Players Go ‘Into The Woods’

 

One of the attributes of the Carousel Theatre—or any theatre-in-the-round for that matter—is that it offers both theatrical intimacy and intrinsic energy as a function of its geometry. While the Carousel has hosted every conceivable form and genre of theatrical production over its long life, it is particularly suited for works in which the audience is asked to suspend all types of disbelief and revel in satisfying theatrical abstraction. The Tennessee Valley Players current production in the Carousel Theatre of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lepine musical, Into the Woods, is a perfect example of just how this abstraction can work brilliantly with a little imagination.

Into the Woods is drawn from tales by the Brothers Grimm and other fairytales, but with an offbeat, cynical twist. In this marvelous concoction, a Baker and his Wife, Cinderella, Jack and his Mother (of beanstalk fame), Little Red Ridinghood and The Wolf, Rapunzel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and an assortment of handsome princes, are all thrown together into the same story—but a story in which the characters have their own particular set of psychological quirks and conflicts with reality. There are still “morals to the story,” but the slant of those morals is definitely modern. In the first act, the characters go “into the woods” trying to achieve their individual desires. The second act deals with what happens when “happily ever after” doesn’t go as planned.

For several years, the TVP have been producing in collaboration with the UT School of Music’s Choral Area. This association has brought music director Angela Batey and instrumentalists to the productions, along with student acting-singers from the School of Music and its choral groups that augment the community casting. In the case of this production of Into the Woods, the notable musical talent within has made all the difference. An audience will accept minimal suggestions of scenery and humorous, rudimentary props, but vocal performances are quite a horse of a different color.

Directed by Kate Laciak, this production has a breathless energy and crispness that flows from these excellent vocal and dramatic performances. Much of the Act I story, helped along by the stentorian Narrator (William Bolt), revolves around The Baker (Tyler Padgett) and his Wife (Hannah Brown) who cannot have a child due to a curse placed on their house by the Witch (Chevy Anz) who lives next door. The pair is sent on a scavenger hunt by the Witch seeking items that will both remove the curse and restore her to a former state. Both Padgett and Brown bring beautifully attractive and compellingly strong voices to this hunt, but their painting of the dramatic dilemma of their characters’ relationship is what gives modern substance to the story.

A bit modern, too, is that Jack ( a very impressive Jack Francis) seems to have an attachment issue with his Mother (UT Opera Theatre veteran artist Ryan Colbert) and a mostly understandable attachment to his cow, Milky White. No spoilers here—Jack is forced by his mother to take the no-longer milk producing cow to market for money to buy food. But he ends up trading the cow for magic beans, which—well you know.

In a powerhouse comic delivery, Roxanne Cabrera is Little Red Ridinghood, in this case, a young girl whose excessive love of eating and a quirky, questioning personality are both her Achilles heel and her salvation.

And, there is the lovely Cinderella (Hilary Hohl) who finds that princes, and the princess life, are not what they seem. In expected lyrical sweetness, Hohl has one of the shows notable and poignant songs, “No One Is Alone.” The role of her prince was taken by Brett Hopper who also played a Johnny Depp-like Wolf. Hopper and Prince-to-Repunzel (Michael Hines) have one of the show-stopping numbers, “Agony”, in which their shallowness shows itself as they compare their pursuit of princesses. Rapunzel (Zoee Lyle) is quite right to go out of her mind.

“Ah…Agony, far more painful than yours
When you know she would go with you
If there only were doors

Agony, all the torture they teach
What’s as intruiging or half so fatiguing
As what’s out of reach.”

With the end of Act I, the characters’ desires are fulfilled. However, in the real world, there is no “happily ever after,” so Act II confronts the reality of relationships fraying in the face of everyday disaster and disappointment. Without the comic and dramatic interest of the Act I chase, and without scenic and visual support that would be out of reach for this production, TVP’s Into The Woods Act II dissipates a bit in energy and cohesiveness, relying on nebulous locations, entrances, and exits to continue the story. However, the Finale rescues it all with the big number “Children Will Listen” courtesy of Chevy Anz’s Witch and the Company.

Into The Woods continues through June 24 at UT’s Carousel Theatre.

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