Forte Theatre Company, a professional group dedicated to bringing theater productions to the southwestern suburbs of Milwaukee, is presenting Stephen Sondheim’s fantasy musical, “Into the Woods.” The show is directed by Randall Dodge with musical direction by Alex Chilsen.
“Into the Woods” is a brilliant mash-up of a variety of fairy tales – Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Baker and a few others. It’s a high energy show and lots of fun to watch.
On the night we attended, however, the theater had major sound issues that seriously affected the first act. Sondheim’s dialogue and lyrics are so clever in this show and the fact that the volume was so compromised was a real shame. The Witch’s story-background explanation, Little Red Ridinghood’s clever banter with the Baker, the menacing wolf, the pithy interchange between the fleeing Cinderella and the Baker’s Wife were reduced from bon mots to just words. I know this musical very well, but judging from the lack of the audience’s reactions to what should be funny
lines, they did not and they really missed out. I am sure the actors realized their words were not hitting their marks but I don’t know if they were aware as to why. Only the two princes seemed to over-project with their song “Agony,” as some of their witticisms were easily understood.
Fortunately, the sound problem was corrected for Act Two. We were able to completely understand all the humor and every song and we were treated to a phenomenal show!
Ashley Rodriguez, as the Witch, delivered a powerful performance with an amazing voice. Molly Kempfer was a fantastic Little Red Ridinghood and held a wail longer than I thought humanly possible! Other standouts include George Lorimer and Brett Sweeney (the lovelorn princes,) Kaitlin Feely (Cinderella,) Christie Burgess (The Baker’s Wife) and Tim Rebers (The Baker.) The orchestra was wonderful and the sound effects provided by these instruments were spot on! Scene Designer Robert Sagadin created lush, rich woods that added so much to the stories unfolding within it.
Scott Howland does a nice job as the Narrator, but his stage direction has him moving around the various scenes that are frequently depicted at the same time. He remains on the peripheries of the lighting as he watches the action, but when it is time for the Narrator to, well, narrate again, the follow spotlight did not always know where he was headed and many of his lines were spoken in the shadows.
The moving of set pieces was also a bit of a distraction. Many of them were moved in and out by tech people but little was done to minimize their appearance on stage. Ideally, the people moving these pieces should be hidden by them instead of walking next to them. Seeing people in black with headsets is a bit of a disappointment. Some characters moved things on and off and that always works better – except when their characters would not be doing this work. Haughty stepsisters should not be striking Cinderella’s fireplace and two actresses, in full costumes, should not be used to facilitate props needed for a scene when these characters have not yet appeared on stage and won’t do so for another hour!
When all the magic was working as it should, this musical was a wonderful evening of Fairy Tale Theater!
“Into the Woods” runs through April 23.