By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — The Fiasco Theatre came from New York to the Old Globe to present its re-imagined Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.
“The mission of Fiasco Theater is to offer dynamic, joyful, actor-driven productions of classic and new plays….” They are all about making bold choices, risking a fiasco. And bold their choices were, though some worked better than others.
Derek McLane’s set was not the woodsy fairy tale design you might expect. An array of vintage crystal chandeliers hung from the flies, book-ended by piano carcasses. An upright, open-work piano stood center stage while the backdrop was a weave of cables, like giant piano wires. We were in for an interesting night.
Rather than make a grand entrance, the ensemble –actors and musicians- strolled out in mid-19th century working folks attire, breaking the fourth wall as they settled in.
Props and costumes were very bare bones. Fluttering pieces of paper and penny whistles served as Cinderella’s birds. Each actor played multiple roles and at least one instrument. This is good old-fashioned storytelling.
The stories in Act I are pretty much the bedtime stories we remember: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and the Baker and his Wife. Conflicts are resolved, girls marry princes and they all live happily ever after…
Well, if they did that, there would be no Act II. The widow of Jack’s dead giant wants revenge and marriage to a prince isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Claire Karpen exuded a genuine sweetness as Cinderella. She really shined in her solo, “You are not alone.” For Cinderella’s wicked Step-Sisters, a flowery curtain became two dresses adorning two hairy-faced men. Her Fairy Godmother was a dress-maker’s dummy voiced by three women in Greek chorus.
But I could have lived without the taxidermy wolf’s head. Puppetry is the art of bringing the inanimate to life. A decapitated head is just … dead.
Yet their shadow puppetry was excellent allowing them to portray the gruesome aspects of Little Red’s story while giving us enough aesthetic distance to feel safe.
Emily Young was funny as the bratty Little Red Riding Hood whereas her Rapunzel was less believable. After a life in isolation, she came off as more cartoonish than tragic.
Noah Brody was over-the-top sleazy both as the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince. Plus, his voice wasn’t strong enough for the music. When the Princes sang their duet, they weren’t the only ones in “Agony.”
But a great set of pipes can be found in Patrick Mulryan. His Jack sings with enough power and conviction to make you believe there really are “Giants in the sky.”
Andy Groteluschen was quite the ham as Rapunzel’s Prince and the cow, Milky White, the latter giving as comically melodramatic a death as I’ve ever seen.
Ben Steinfeld and Jessie Austrian had nice chemistry as the Baker and his Wife, incessantly bickering like an old Jewish couple. Kind of a nebbish, he wants to do the right thing while she justifies every misdeed for the sake of their mission.
Allison Cimmet was intense as the Witch, particularly in “Last Midnight” when she’s ready to sacrifice Jack to the Giantess in order to save the kingdom. She isn’t moral, but she isn’t wrong either.
The Fiasco Theatre is a high-energy ensemble that’s all about taking risks with bold choices. Not all of the choices worked, but they were risks worth taking. So if you want to see a musical with chutzpah, go to the Old Globe and follow them ‘Into the Woods.’
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Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com