Event Article

Gary Krinke has accomplished something amazing. His mission statement seemed to be, "We can't short change anybody." And he did exactly that because "Into the Woods" is worth every penny, and still, it's a bargain.

From the opening song, "Woods" comes to life in a very jubilant way. The colors of the sets and costumes set the fairytale musical aglow with life and interest. The music is so amazfugly complex that· you cannot help but be transfixed on the characters as they · introduce themselves. ".Woods" just gets better from there on.

The first act is nothing but a carefree ride through, what seems to be, a handful of favorite fairytales thrown· together by commonplace: The woods. Each character enters the woods in search of their own personal discoveries. Each have there own personal reasons. Cinderella is a little timid about her prince. The Baker and his wife are on a scavenger hunt for objects that will lead them to fertility.< Jack has to sell his life~long friend, the cow. Rapunzel has to let down her hair. And of course, Little Red Riding Hood has to get to grandmothers house. All lead the way to a glorious first act that is so full of life; it is a one act show in itself.

But the second act changes all that. Perfectly executed; the story changes, but remains the same. Gone are the happy-go-lucky songs and left are the realities of what remains after the "Happily ever after" has finished. The characters are left to deal with their actions that took place in the first act. .

All of this and more. are the basis for the story. But the real triumph is the cast, directing, and visual feast that "Woods"· serves up. Every single character is played perfectly. It is so easy: to get lost in "Woods" simply because of the characters. The cast delivers them with class. Gone are chessey joke.s and actions that just seem ·like . they are there to draw laughs. "Woods" doesn't ne.d to do that. The actors don't need to do that. They have so much fun playing these roles that the audience enjoys it as well. ·

Some noteworthy performances dialogue and vocal were Amberly Susann Williams who played the Witch, Bryan C. Guthrie who was the Baker, and most of all, Amy Walker who delivered a knock-out characterization of Little Red Riding Hood. Again, though, the entire cast was fantastic and not a weak role was present.

Finally, the directing is top of the line. It's so good because you don't notice it. Everything that happens on that stage looks so natural and normal that it doesn't take away from the quest at hand. to deliver a quality show.

Every scene flows into one another with such great ease that you never lose interest or are sitting there wondering if something is, or should be, happening. The set was fantastic offering the most realistic artificial woods. In the second act it is more transparent as the trees move closer and the stage is so full of shrubbery that you can feel the intimidation the characters feel throughout.

Unfortunately, there are the technicals of the show that can get so complicated, something is bound to go wrong. For this show though it was ok. There were occasional drop outs and pops from the microphones but the actors, music and set were so terrific, it took you out of the show for just a second and then you were right back in. Plus the vocals were so strong it wasn't hard to still understand what was being said and done.

"Into the Woods" delivers as promised. It's a quality show and · the cast delivers it perfectly. There is so much that one can get from "Woods," that's it's unfortunate it wraps up production on March 16 (hint, hint). Krinke and cast didn't shortchange a patron and definitely found something special in the "Woods." ·