On Friday, February 10th 2023, I went to Paramount Theater in the city of Aurora to go see the opening night of INTO The WOOOOOOODS with Margot and Dolph. I walked into the theater and it was BIG. Like, REALLY BIG. A couple years ago I saw the movie and I liked it. My mom showed it to me because she was in a play of Into the Woods and she played little red riding hood and she can't stop telling us about it! Anyway I thought the movie was pretty good but then when I heard we were going to into da woooooooods PLAY with live music, my brain went “:)” and I knew it would be better because it is live and it's no CGI like in the movie which makes the play better! And then I was very right because it was a whole lot better than the movie even if I had to stay awake until midnight!
This play was written originally by JAMES LAPINE and the music and lyrics were by STEPHEN SONDHEIM and here it was directed by Jim Corti and Trent Stork and I think the direction was the magic bean that made everything work like magic :) The set by Jeffrey D Kmiec was AMAZING and I loved all of the moving parts that made for really beautiful and clean scene changes.Way to go Jeffrey! I really liked how the lighting and projections changed to fit what was happening in the story, so I think that José Santiago and Paul Deziel are true storytellers with light and imagery! There were also PUPPETS! Yes, PUPPETS! There was the main one, which was the cow Milky White, but there was also others, like the pigeons, and the golden hen, and I'M NOT FORGETTING THE HORSE OK, no one could forget the horse. All of these puppets were super good and funny to watch and I loved how they looked. Shoutout to Jesse Mooney-Bullock (the designer) and Adam Fane, the Puppeteer!
Anyway, this play was about many different characters who have to go into the woods for different reasons, but the main reason is a baker (Steven Schellhardt) and his wife (Sarah Bockel) want to find several random objects so that a witch will help them get pregnant, and the witch needs these items so that she can make a potion to no longer look like a witch. The play is very exciting and entertaining and I was completely entertained for nearly all of three hours! Friends, this play is super good. This is definitely The best play of the year so far. I give this play.... 47 beans out of 48 because this play is about beans and it was really good. I think that anyone can enjoy this play although there is talk about BLOODY MURDER but asides from that it is goooooods. So my recommendation is to see this play! If you live in Australia or somewhere far away like that...well, then book the next flight to Aurora, Illinois and get to Paramount's Into the Woods, it's that good.
Until Next time, Peace Out - Gunnar
Photo Credit: Liz Lauren
