Into the Woods—You have to take the journey!

Susan Booth kicks off her 10^th anniversary season by directing this audience-favorite by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

It’s a fast-paced, up-tempo musical that intertwines five popular fairy tales on a wonderfully imaginative set. In the tradition of fairy tales and mythology what seems like simple little stories are actually quite profound with sometimes dark meanings that teach us about life. In Act II the fairy tales are revisited and reworked bringing us to question the price of having your wishes come true.

The cast was impressive, many with Broadway credentials. Angela Robinson did an amazing job as the horrid and gnarly witch whom, once her spell was broken became as gorgeous as she’d been hideous. Fortunately this beauty didn’t lose her fire and held fast to her nasty disposition which wasn’t as much evil as just hard-line and forceful. (The kind of ‘witch’ that we’d spell with a ‘B’ today!)

The set was creative and detailed with one massive tree-trunk of a main stage surrounded by multiple platforms allowing for a several storylines to play out simultaneously with the perfect combination of togetherness and individuality.

Through the joint cooperation of Atlanta Federation of Musicians, Local 148-462, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Woodruff Arts Center and the Alliance Theatre, this production of Into the Woods features a young people’s orchestra.

“You go into the woods,
Where nothing's clear,
Where witches, ghosts
And wolves appear.
Into the woods
And through the fear,
You have to take the journey.”

(From the Lyrics of ‘Ever After’)

Into the Woods. Go!