Terrific show, but it’s no panto

INTO THE WOODS, Royal Exchange, Manchester, to January 16

MANY of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals can be an acquired taste, and wouldn’t be thought of as potential Christmas show material by most theatres. But then the Exchange has rarely worried much about what other theatres do.

This one is a particularly odd choice at this time of year, since it draws together the stories from several fairy tales including Cinderella, Jack the Giant Killer and Rapunzel. Even so, it’s no pantomime.

The woods of the title are a metaphor for facing your fears and coming out the other side. Not that you need to understand that to enjoy the clever tunes, smart lyrics and familiar stories, all mixed up together In the first half into one larger story which concludes with everyone’s “happy ever after”.

In the second half Sondheim shows what happens afterwards, when Prince Charming is a little bored with his new wife, when the Baker and his wife find their child cries a lot, and the wife of the giant Jack killed comes back to get her revenge.

Sondheim’s work can sometimes seem a little clinical and clever, but with the right cast and director, shows like this can really fly.

Director Matthew Xia has a nice design (Jenny Tiramani) which fills the huge Exchange foyer and auditorium with forest trees, but also pointlessly sets the show in a sort of fantasy modern Manchester, with relatively contemporary clothes.

The real pleasure of this otherwise terrific production comes from a warmly sympathetic cast, strong singing and times when the director just allows the cast to have a good time — the prime example being the two princes’ rendition of the show’s main comic song, “Agony”, listing all the ways being a prince isn’t much fun.

Though the cast in general is exemplary, and the in-the-round setting pays real dividends, notable are the contributions of the supremely assured Gillian Bevan as the witch, Francesca Zoutewelle as Cinders, Alex Gaumond and Amy Ellen Eichardson as the baker and his wife, and Michael Elliott and Michael Peavoy as the two princes. Not for youngsters then, but adults will love it.