Take for example the duo’s new album Live at Levon’s. In 2023, three years after the mention of COVID-19 (and almost to the month before Campbell succumbed to a harrowing bout with the deadly virus) the duo is back on the road again.īut the pandemic distorted our sense of time that still persists. It was living vicariously and proved to be therapeutic as we envisioned a return to live music someday. But the documentary film series, It Was The Music, about the married duo Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, helped us get us through those dark days.Īs we stayed sequestered, we got to watch a film directed by Mark Moskowitz showing footage of Campbell and Williams traversing the small venues of America and intermingling with fans in the months before we shut down. " Into the Woods" runs through April 2 at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.We’re still getting over scars left by the pandemic and not being able to hear live music. (Courtesy Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) The "Cinderella" cast of "Into the Woods" at the Colonial Theatre. Still, that doesn’t detract from the overall joyfulness of "Into the Woods," particularly in this production, a masterful musical journey. Will the tale wrap up nicely with everyone living happily ever after? Sondheim and Lapine were looking for more complex themes than that in the second act, like interdependence and facing the world without blinders. (Forbach and Ximone Rose take over the Baker and Baker’s Wife roles from March 28 to April 2.) Block) - a dynamic duo - want a child, Velez's Rapunzel wants love and freedom, Cinderella wants to get from under the heel of her stepmother, and Jack wants to save his beloved cow Milky White from slaughter. The Witch wants her beauty back, the Baker (Sebastian Arcelus) and his wife (Stephanie J. "Into the Woods," narrated by a charismatic David Patrick Kelly, who doubles as a mysterious man in the forest helping the characters find their way, is a tale about a curse (or many) being lifted. Aymee Garcia as Jack's mother, Cole Thompson as Jack and Kennedy Kanagawa as the cow's puppeteer in "Into the Woods." (Courtesy Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) A prolific artist, Sondheim, whom Oscar Hammerstein mentored, has a lengthy list of seminal works beginning with "West Side Story," for which he wrote the lyrics before taking over both music and lyrics after “WSS” and “Gypsy.” Sondheim, who died at the end of 2021, had a Kennedy Center Honor, eight Tony awards and a Presidential Medal of Freedom to his credit. Sondheim, a composer, and lyricist born in 1930, is one of our most important musical figures. The reprisal of the show is in honor of Sondheim's memory. Music director and conductor John Bell shapes the essential notes to all of the actor's antics - from bean-counting to the collapse of the cow Milky White. The music they create behind the performers augments the energetic, perfectly paced narrative. True to its origins in New York’s “Encores!” series under Lear deBessonet’s direction, the visible presence of an orchestra adds a lot to the production. Jason Forbach and Gavin Creel as the princes in "Into the Woods." (Courtesy Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) Cole Thompson's kind-hearted but dim-witted Jack and Alysia Velez's Rapunzel also have lovely voices but fewer opportunities to use them. Some of that can be attributed to their voices for example, Glover exercises smart control over her performance, deftly moving through vocal registers or the passaggio with ease and the audience was in stitches over Creel and Forbach's hilarious yet gorgeous "Agony." Their presence, prowess and comedic timing are top-notch. Still, Montego Glover's Witch, Katy Geraghty's Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella's and Rapunzel's princes - Gavin Creel (who also magnificently portrays the cunning Wolf), and Jason Forbach are particularly memorable. Sondheim’s exuberant music and lyrics (packed with difficult intervals to sing) are rendered beautifully by the whole ensemble. The excellent cast from the 2022 Broadway performances bring the story to life with panache at the Emerson Colonial Theater (through April 2). The delightful musical brings together characters from some of the most famous fairy tales like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Rapunzel" in a narrative that's focused on our need for one another. Despite a rapidly changing world, the wonder, comedy, themes and music endure. More than 30 years have passed since Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's " Into the Woods" premiered. Block (Baker's Wife),Sebastian Arcelus (Baker) and Katy Geraghty (Little Red Riding Hood) in "Into the Woods" at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.
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