Into the Woods

For this six-week play report I attended Into the Woods at the Bing Theatre located inside the University of Southern California as a part of its school of theatre. I just so happened to be at USC during spring break exploring the school and spending some quality time with my older sister when I realized that attending this production would be a great opportunity. This was the second college level musical that I had been to and was comparable to Miss Saigon which took place at CSU Fullerton. I felt that these two musicals are comparable because they share the same level of musical quality and acting. What differed between the two was that since Into the Woods was put out by a private university, the sets, props, and theatre itself were clearly at a higher caliber.

The plot of the musical is that the baker and his wife have been forever cursed so that they cannot bear children. In order for them to reverse this curse, the witch gave them a task/mission that they had to complete within three days time. This task consisted of getting the witch a cow as milk as white, hair as yellow as corn, a cape as red as blood, and golden shoes. In attaining each of these different items, the bakers weaved together these three stories and brought all the characters together into one story. There were obstacles along the way, and in order to end this production in true fairy tale fashion, the characters were left with their "happily ever ending."

The set-up of this musical was divided into three different sets because the musical itself was divided into three different stories that commingled into one larger story. The three children's stories consisted of the story dealing with Little Red Riding Hood and the bakers (husband and wife), Cinderella, and that of Jack and his milky-white cow. The set dealing with Little Red Riding Hood's story was a bakery made of what appeared to be stone with a brick oven. The set dealing with Cinderella consisted of two different levels where Cinderella scrubbed and cleaned on the first level while her evil stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda and stepmother prepared for the festival on the upper level. The last set was constructed similarly to the one used by the bakers; however, the set was made with the intent to act as a stable for the cow. Also, there were four versatile stone pillars that were utilized throughout the entire performance when the actors were in the woods. These "stone" pillars were in fact made by pieces of Styrofoam glued together.

The production also utilized elaborate costumes such as the extravagant ball gown that Cinderella wore to the festival. In addition to this were the costumes of Cinderella's Prince, Rapunzel's Prince, Rapunzel, and the Witch. The costumes added to the performance and enhanced their characterization. In the technical aspects of the performance, the mystical voice used by Cinderella's mother gave her this ethereal feel. The lighting even changed when she was introduced into the setting as a spotlight was placed on her. It gave the audience the feeling of Cinderella calling up her mother from the dead. Two incidents stuck in my head even after the performance. One was when Cinderella's Prince had run frantically onstage and accidentally ran into the pillar too strongly and the entire pillar collapsed onto him. Rather than breaking character he continued and the crew backstage walked on and took the extraneous pieces offstage without any sense of commotion as if it was planned. The other thing was when the birds were brought onstage and one had fallen onto the floor. Cinderella picked up the bird and sent it away as if it were part of her script not giving any indication to the audience that it was a mistake.

Despite the positive aspects of the production, the criticism is that the actors had poor diction which made it difficult for the audience to discern their words. At times the orchestra overpowered the actors which only added to the difficultly of understanding the actors. Another technical issue was the problem dealing with the mics which would occur when the actor spoke too quickly. What happened was that the mic would crack and there would be static when the actor spoke too quickly and also made it difficult for the audience to understand.