Into the Woods dazzles but lacks cohesion

Michelle Chang

Musical Theater at Oberlin has come a long way in the last three years. Theater and Dance's Winter Term Production of Into the Woods, directed by Resident Designer and Associate Professor of Theater Chris Flaharty, marks the first full musical to take the main stage at Hall Auditorium. This in itself makes the project a commendable one. But Oberlin's grandest venue demands high expectations, and this production, despite its laudable efforts, does not quite make the grade.

Performances on the whole are impressive, although the singing ranges from mediocre to excellent. An outstanding performance comes from senior John Bartley, who plays both his roles as the devilish wolf and the sweet talking prince to their full comic/camp potentials. His duet with fellow prince junior Jeremy Truhel about the agony of women out of reach is one of the more memorable numbers of the show, thanks to strong performances from both actors. In another memorable moment, junior Jeremy Ellison-Gladstone and senior Jane Leacock, as the Baker and Cinderella respectively, do a beautiful and sincere rendition of the show's most touching number, "No One is Alone."

Other notable performances include senior Rebecca Garcia, who delivers a successfully intriguing mix of bitter wickedness and maternal sweetness as the witch, and junior Sharon Bjorndal, who gives an honest and sad portrayal of the Baker's Wife. The tragic stepsisters, played by Junior Sheila Murphy and junior Vanessa Chaves, come off as delightfully pathetic and funny despite the awkwardness of Chaves having to play a mute.

Stephen Sondheim's enchanting orchestral score is handled with finesse and precision by Musical Director senior Randy Cohen. This is vital given that the orchestra plays such a pivotal role in the show, adding richness to the identity of each character and providing a colorful array of sound effects. These elements work to enhance the show and give it a polished feel, making the orchestra one of the heroes of this production.

The other artistic hero of the production is the costume design. From the witch's tattered rags of auburn and teal to the stepsister's gaudy, fuschia gowns lines with hideous green bows to the wolf's sleek tuxedo with ten inch claws to match, many of the characters are presented in true fairy tale splendor, making the costume design one of the most delightful yet almost scene-stealing elements of the show. The problem is that the elaborate intricacies of the costumes are a total clash with the bareness of a set which is anything but lush or evocative.

Among the distinct pleasures of seeing a show at Hall, stunning sets are usually an important part of the experience (think of last semester's Arcadia or Carmen). Unfortunately, the set design for Into the Woods seems to be the show's largest detriment and one of the major factors that really prevents this production from having the overall cohesion that it needs. This minimalist representation of the woods consists of a series of ladders, exposed lights that only serve to differentiate between night and day, a big black platform center stage, blocking cubes and a giant, white cloth for a backdrop. It looks as though the set is still under construction.

In searching for a justification for this decision, two interpretations surface: one, the deliberately artificial and stripped down nature of the set is a self-conscious gesture that reflects the musical's own theatrical construction/deconstruction of familiar fairy tales into a singular yet fragmented adult tale. The second is that it is not the real, physical dangers of the woods that the characters are wandering through, but rather a symbolic, psychological woods where they must confront their inner fears and desires. People use ladders to climb up but they always have to climb down again. In the same way, the characters fulfill their wishes but are eventually disillusioned.

The commentary is potentially interesting, but after the initial provocation, the static set simply becomes unappealing to look at and generally ineffective. It never manages to become an integral part of the production, and yet it is too intrusive and distracting to overlook in considering this production as a whole. In one exception, the gruesome scene at grandmother's house is played with provocative shadow puppets. This innovative staging is stylistically slick, but due to its inconsistency with any other choices made in the show (save perhaps the origami birds), its final effect seems too random. Overall, it seems as though the creative ideas for the show needed to be flushed out more.

In the end, Flaharty does a nice job of weaving the multiple stories together in a smooth fashion. We discover that all of the characters are connected by six degrees of separation, so to speak, and that they are all actually characters in a combined story. They all relate to each other because they all turn to the woods for something they lack or lost; in essence what they desire. But with the fulfillment of wishes comes the realization of the impossibility of perfection and its consequences.

In a key scene of Act II, the narrator, played with flair by senior Jeff Manwaring, is dragged into the story by the characters and sacrificed to the giant. This breaks the boundary between "story" and "real world" within the musical and dually implicates the audience in the story. We live these stories as much as we continue to tell them to the next generation. There is no such thing as the safety of the outside world, for we all deal with the psychology of longing, separation, disappointment and renewal. We all must make the journey into the woods from time to time, and the obstacles we encounter will either kill us or give us lessons to grow up on.

Into the Woods goes up at Hall Auditorium goes up Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Admission is $4 for students

Cast and crew and cow: The full cast of Into the Woods poses for a shot. (photo courtesy of Theater and Dance Program)