Into The Woods

Into The Woods, Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine’s much beloved mashup of famous fairytale plots and characters, has Adelaide Youth Theatre’s usual uniformly first rate production values and is given reasonably polished, if possibly overly derivative treatment by the company.

As might be expected of young actors, not all of the players are consistently proficient with American accents. Given that the story takes place in a medieval fantasy kingdom replete with witches, beanstalks and talking animals, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched for the Director to have the cast using their native Australian accents.

Taking into consideration this is youth theatre Billie Turner is an appropriately shrill, cackling Wicked Witch and chews scenery with ferocious glee. Connor Olsson-Jones and Luke Wolianskyj bring outrageous swagger to a pair of self-absorbed Prince Charmings. Jared Gersschwitz exudes slimeball charisma as The Wolf, and Julia Conway does a lot with very little, playing the limited role of Rapunzel with a highly strung physicality.

Leah Harford’s Cinderella, Serena Martino-Williams’ Baker’s Wife and Alanna Iannace’s Red Riding Hood sing with clarity and act with passion. Harry Ngyuen’s Baker and Joshua Spinello’s Jack have winning enthusiasm. The most experienced member of the cast, Benji Riggs, is the Narrator, but his comic timing could be sharper in this production.

There is generally polished singing from the cast.

The sets and costumes are boldly colourful, the choreography sprightly. Many of the scene transitions are very clever. Of particular interest is the framing device for the show. The narrator addresses literature students in a classroom, which over the course of the opening number, transforms into the verdant woodland of the story, with the students changing into the fairytale characters before our eyes.

The score is as earwormy as ever and gets a lively workout from conductor Mark Delaine.

Hardcore Sondheimites will appreciate the technical proficiency of the 13-piece orchestra.

Benjamin Orchard