Were the critics all bark and no bite with Into the Woods?

Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage

★★★★★

“Director Jordan Fein’s magical new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods is up and running in a way that indicates its intent. The musical, premiered in 1986, is about a lot of things; the way there are no happy endings, how life is always more complex than a story, the excitement as well as the perils of a journey into the unknown.” 

“Fein and designer Tom Scutt collaborated last year on a radical and revelatory Fiddler on the Roof, and here they once again work with the musical supervisor Mark Aspinall to make Sondheim not only look but sound fresh, with Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations dialling up the darkness inside the lyrical score.”

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out

★★★★★

“Fein smashes it, largely thanks to exceptional casting. There is a nominal main plot, which centres on the misadventures of the Baker and the Baker’s Wife (Jamie Parker and Katie Brayben, given the show’s most down to earth, human performances). But it’s an ensemble show that requires at least a dozen great singing character actors. Rsing stars Chumisa Dornford-May and Bella Brown are rightly represented and do fine work as a slightly loopy Cinderella and an ethereal, damaged Rapunzel. Gracie McGonigal is absolutely wonderful as a gung-ho, psychotic girl guide of a Red Riding Hood.”

Clive Davis, The Times

★★★★★

“It’s hard to imagine a production that does a better job of tying all the themes and subthemes together and actually making you care about the characters as they confront the darkness in Act Two.”

“The musical director Mark Aspinall’s 12-piece orchestra is elegance itself. I don’t mind admitting that I struggled with the other big Sondheim opening of recent weeks — the screen version of the clever-clever showbiz story Merrily We Roll Along. These twisted fairy tales, though, are hypnotic.”

Tim Bano, Financial Times

★★★★★

“Some of the best numbers come as the death toll rises: Katie Brayben as the Baker’s Wife perfectly lands every one of Sondheim’s unexpected notes in ‘Moments in the Woods’, and Jamie Parker as her husband brings rawness and resignation to ‘No More.’ But it’s Kate Fleetwood’s Witch who really stands out, witchy in a Stevie Nicks kind of way, commanding the stage with her performance of the ferociously difficult ‘Last Midnight’.”

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian

★★★★

“The actors are on blazing musical form too, hitting every difficult or dissonant note, and each performer finds a moment to excel. There is the operatic melodrama of the two posturing princes (Oliver Savile and Rhys Whitfield) in ‘Agony’, the pained drama of ‘Children Will Listen’ and the wit of ‘Your Fault.’ Kate Fleetwood is phenomenal both in and out of song (including ‘Witch’s Lament’).”

Nick Curtis, The Standard

★★★★

“The flexible Bridge auditorium has been configured for a traditional end-on staging, where Fein adroitly co-ordinates multiple entrances and exits among Tom Scutt’s set of sun-dappled and then shattered trees. Those hoping for elaborate dance numbers will be disappointed, but there are vocal performances here to savour.”

Fiona Mountford, iNews

★★★★

“Cinderella (rising star Chumisa Dornford-May), beanstalk-baiting Jack (Jo Foster) and Little Red Riding Hood (Gracie McGonigal) are also on manoeuvres out there, while a bewildered-looking narrator (Michael Gould) attempts to keep the story on track. The first half climaxes with myriad wishes being granted, but never forget that this is Sondheim not Disney. A dark second act, which occasionally lapses into bagginess, worries at the eternal question of what happens after the happily ever after – and throws a rampaging giant into the mix too.”

Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph

★★★★

“A plot that could easily become convoluted is instead brisk and hypnotic, Sondheim’s jaunty music keeping step with lyrics that have their own springy levity. Fein initially positions his lead cast around a work-table, with Michael Gould markedly understated as the show’s Narrator. Then designer Tom Scutt reveals a woodland scene with tree-trunks so tangible and foliage so lush, you want in on the adventure, too. The moral of the tale, of course, is to be careful what you wish for: the second half, in which discord, death and disaster stalk a ravaged landscape, dismantles ‘happy ever afters.'”

Louis Chilton, The Independent

★★★★

“Among the ensemble, there are several standouts – Brayben, Fleetwood, and Dornford-May are terrific, while Gould is an enjoyably ramshackle narrator – and no damagingly weak links. Foster is a little broad when it comes to some of Jack’s spoken lines, but they prove themselves a dab hand with physical comedy (much of it involving a cow puppet) and shine as a vocalist on the melodious ‘Giants In the Sky.’ McGonigal’s take on the wry ‘I Know Things Now,’ meanwhile, is musically proficient but a little static. As the play progresses, she does a nice job bringing out the shifting psychology of her character.”

Sam Marlowe, The Stage

★★★

“Sometimes the staging is a little cluttered – Jenny Ogilvie’s movement has a nicely folksy, jigging simplicity, but it occasionally clumps. And the mechanics of the plotting feel slightly laborious in a production that brings so little that’s new to the table. Still, it’s plush and polished, and moment by moment, there’s plenty to enjoy. And visually, it’s spellbinding.”