Into the Woods at Bridge Theatre Review

The Bridge Theatre’s brand new production, directed by Jordan Fein, retains all of James Lapine’s original book, and there was little sign that Sondheim’s magically tricksy lyrics and notation had in any way been tweaked. However, where other productions have managed to chorale the cast into a finely-honed cloth all woven from the same inherently musical theatre threads, here there is a more disjointed overall effect with some notable voices but largely forgettable characterisations.

For anyone seeing Sondheim’s show for the first time, it will quite possibly register as extraordinary. It is after all, an extraordinary piece of work. But this is not an extraordinary production. Certainly not when compared with the original, which landed at the Phoenix Theatre back in 1990 and slapped London audiences around the chops with its super sharp delivery of interlaced scenes, leaving little time for the audience to recover before the next dazzling vignette. On that occasion, Julia Mackenzie headed the cast as the deformed and grotesque witch, who transforms into a sleak and glamorous version of herself through the manipulation of other cast members into unwittingly helping her to break a spell. Back then, the ever resourceful Baker’s Wife, who longs to conceive a baby (but doesn’t turn-up her nose at the chance of a down low princely dalliance), was played by Imelda Staunton. Other notable characterisations delivered with gusto and aplomb included Clive Carter’s Wolf/Prince, Jacqueline Dankworth’s hilariously self-analysing Cinderella and Tessa Burbridge as the brattish and petulant Little Red Riding Hood. In fact, so remarkable were their collective efforts, that I can still visualise and replay whole scenes in my mind 35 years on.

Oliver Savile and Hughie O'Donnell in INTO THE WOODS at the Bridge Theatre. Photo by Johan Persson.

Fast forward to 2025 and on Tom Scutt’s infinitely superior set design, with its shadowy reveals and clever use of a central trap lift and the team take an altogether different approach. The individual introductions to each character are more starchy and disjointed but that’s not to say that some good work isn’t in evidence. As the obscenely hideous Witch, Kate Fleetwood can certainly carry a tune and deploys an impassioned and intense resignation to her final song Last Midnight. Her transformation however, seems to be an odd choice — returning with long dark hair clad in a plain white nightdress she appears ready to sing the mad scene from Lucia Di Lammermoor. Fleetwood is perhaps outshone in the vocal stakes by Katie Brayben, whose pop trills as the Baker’s Wife, add a modern vocal edge as she attempts to keep her Baker husband (Jamie Parker) on track. As Cinderella, Chumisa Dornford-May is also clearly a powerhouse, managing to convincingly land On the Steps of the Palace which is notable for being one of the most challenging songs in musical theatre.

Elsewhere, Gracie McGonigal as Little Red managed to deliver menace and a stubborn resistance to being cajoled, but her efforts didn’t leap out. Similarly, as the Princes, Oliver Saville and Rhys Whitfield manage a passable Agony, but considering this is one of the funniest songs ever written for musical theatre, it felt underwhelming. Inexplicably, Saville in his dual role as the Wolf, managed to remain entirely unsexy — which is no small feat given how lasciviously the part is written. Jo Foster appeared to aim for a northern Jack/Jill embodiment as the dim lad who is forced to take his beloved cow Milky White (here an amusing hand-held puppet which avoided any panto comparisons) to market and exchanges her/him (pull the udder one) for magic beans, thereby kicking-off the whole beanstalk calamity.

Other cast members who deliver their moments, but perhaps won’t live especially long in my memory, included Julie Jupp as Jack’s Mother, Bella Brown as Rapunzel and Michael Gould as Narrator/Mysterious Man.

You’ll definitely have fun, but for Sondheim aficionados hoping for the definitive version of this unforgiving and complex masterpiece, this is not it. The run at Bridge Theatre is scheduled to continue until the end of May.