Mostly Musical Theatre

Into the Woods at Croswell Opera House (review) May 10, 2015

Hard to believe that Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” is 28 years old, right? I saw that original production in NYC 28 years ago several times while I was in grad school, and I’ve probably seen 40 productions in between. And none of them has been as picture perfect a copy of the original Broadway production as the current sublime Croswell Opera House offering.

Eric Parker directs with an assured hand and there isn’t a single wrong note in the production — from Leo Babcock’s beautiful set — to Tiff Crutchfield’s lighting, Dave Rains’s Musical Direction, and Kailey Osgood-McAuliffe’s costumes.

The ensemble cast is excellent — as it should be with a cast consisting of a virtual who’s who of local musical theater. Every cast member gets their moment to shine. Particularly good are Mark DiPietro as the Narrator/Mysterious Man, Natalie Kissinger as the Witch, and Jarrod Alexander and Patrick Wallace as the Princes. But every single cast member is terrific.

The too-long-as-it-is show includes the additional “Our Little World” added for the London production post-Broadway. The 17-piece orchestra sounds lush and full. The sound design is impeccable – you can hear every single word of the marvelous lyrics.

In short, it is hard to tell the difference between Croswell’s offering and a Broadway tour that rolled through town and set up shop in Adrian. And that is a great thing as far as I’m concerned and another impressive notch in Eric Parker’s directorial belt.

Highly Recommended.

Into the Woods continues at the Croswell Opera House through May 17th. Tickets at Croswell.org or 517-264-show