Into the Woods

Published Monday 28 September 2009 at 13:30 by Mark Shenton

Seeing Sondheim in miniature often amplifies the dramatic stakes and so it proves once again at the Landor, an ambitious south London fringe theatre that originally produced Into the Woods as its first musical 15 years ago, and now comes full circle back to it to offer the best production I’ve yet seen there.

The particular virtue of close-up Sondheim is that every word and gesture counts. Fielding a cast that are mostly well equipped for the challenge, director Robert McWhir comes up trumps with a reading of the show, at once dark and richly textured, in which all the musical and dramatic intricacies of the show are fully exploited.

The colliding fairy tales of James Lapine’s infinitely clever book seem to step off the bookshelf of Nina Morley’s witty, giant book-lined set, offering picture pop-up book discoveries for Cinderella’s late mother and Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother to emerge from.

McWhir also smartly adds to the storytelling device of the narrator by having two silent observers to the action, billed in the programme as Mayhem and Mischief, to offer a different kind of wordless commentary - and scene-changing assists, too.

But its also striking how theatres like the Landor are increasingly able to cast from strength for strong vocal and acting performances, too. Lori Haley Fox has even taken a sabbatical from a Broadway gig in Mamma Mia! to appear here as the Witch and she’s a strong, if occasionally strident, presence. But Leo Andrew and Sarah Head, as the childless baker and his wife whose quest for a baby threads itself around the recreations of popular fairy tale stories, anchor the production with performances of tender, heartfelt musical and dramatic conviction. There’s also terrific work from Sue Appleby as Cinderella, Jonathan Eio as Jack and Ryan Forde Iosco and Luke Fredericks as the two princes.

I only wish that families would resist seeing the show as a kind of pantomime alternative. This show is not suitable for young kids and the family with four daughters aged under six in tow at the performance I saw may have done their best to reign their behaviour in, but the girls were plainly out of their depth.