Local Review: Sun City Musical Theatre's "Into the Woods"
This year in El Paso, two productions of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods were put on by two local theatre companies. The first of which was El Paso Community College's Production which, as you know if you are a regular reader of my blog, was a mess. The second production was done by Sun City Musical Theatre....The huge difference between the two productions was that while the EPCC production was a conceivable mess, the Sun City Musical Theatre production was such a mess, that it was actually unbelievable. Sun City's production of Into the Woods is a flop of Carrie sized proportions. This production of "Into the Woods" was outrageous and downright ridiculous. Even the chicken who ran out onstage in the EPCC production was taken aback by how truly bad this production was. It's not even that the talent wasn't there, it was, but there were so many obvious setbacks and wrong choices made in this production that made it the mess of a show that it was.
*I'VE REVIEWED INTO THE WOODS A FEW TIMES BEFORE, I AM NOT EXPLAINING THE PLOT AGAIN FOR THE SAKE OF THIS BLOG'S ORIGINALITY. WE ARE GOING STRAIGHT INTO WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION.*
First and foremost, this production used a 32 piece orchestra and I could barely hear a thing that any of the performers were singing! The orchestra sounded good, but they drowned out the performers, BIG TIME. The orchestra was clearly using some sort of microphones when it should have been the cast with the microphones. This isn't the mid 20th century, performers need amplification to their voices because hardly anyone could sing over a 32 piece orchestra, and nobody in this production could. Just about everyone's voice was lost and it wasn't even their fault because they had to sing over what was practically a symphony orchestra with no amplification. If they really wanted the orchestra, they should have reduced the size of it because I could just barely hear the performers and sometimes not at all.
From the second the show started, it was absolute chaos. There was too much going on for the entire show and I never knew where to look. It actually looked like people were just running around the stage and there was no cohesiveness to any of the staging. It didn't even feel like I was watching a show for the whole 2.5 hours because of how chaotic it was. In the opening number alone, there was a girl who was cast as a table and the cast came onstage carrying tree branches which were supposed to represent birds. It made no sense whatsoever. Something else that was super inordinate was the choreography (by Courtney Curtis). It overwhelmed the stage and it was just extremely overdone and over dramatic.
After the highly overwhelming opening number, the show continued to be a mess as it went on. There were poor acting choices throughout the entire show. One of the scenes I had a huge issue with was "Hello, Little Girl" was because the scene was poorly blocked and because it was too creepy. I know the song is supposed to have the pedophilic undertones, but the actress playing Little Red Riding Hood (Angelina Montalvo) was way too into it and it was unsettling. There were a lot of distracting things in this show but one of those things was that during the scenes in the woods (so basically all of them) there was glitter flying in the air and it was SUPER distracting. I was missing parts of the show because I found myself staring at the random glitter. But you can't even say that it looked good. It was just random glitter flying through the air. I actually thought I was going crazy until the person I was with said that they saw the glitter too.
There were more odd visual and direction choices. For example in the scene where the wolf eats Little Red, rather than having an actual bed, they had people holding a blanket and pillows. It was WEIRD but it wasn't even the weirdest thing in this production....that honor goes to the framing device which didn't make any sense. A part of the framing device which included the narrator (played by a child, David Martinez or Stevie Hayes) and his father who don't have an amazing relationship. At the very beginning of the show, they were screaming "I hate you" at each other and then they went to "Once upon a time" and...I don't know, but it added nothing, went nowhere, and once again, made no sense. Also a part of the framing device, was that the narrator was onstage for the entire show reenacting the show with dolls in the background. However, it didn't even look like that. It just looked like a kid lip syncing with dolls in the background. I also MUST mention that the Narrator was leaving his toys on the ground throughout the show and there was a Dora the Explorer doll that actually felt like it was taking up half of the stage because of how distracting it was. Somewhere in this framing device, which already sounds bad on paper, there was a smart idea but it was just executed so poorly by the director, Courtney Curtis.
A lot of the staging choices made you wonder what was going through the director's mind when those choices were made. There were so many little issues that could have easily been solved by just looking at the show. For example, while Rapunzel was in the "tower", you couldn't see her or hear her because she was so high up that the lights weren't even hitting her and she had to sing over the 32 piece orchestra from so high up. There were also scenes that felt like I was having a fever dream (and looking back on it, I think I was). One of those scenes was "The First Midnight" into "Giants in the Sky." There were these people with green umbrellas and it honestly looked like something straight out of "Singin' in the Rain." They were just twirling them back and forth and I didn't know what they were supposed to be? Bushes? Clouds? Who knows! There were SO MANY strange moments in this show. There was a part where the stepsisters came out on leashes, Rapunzel's babies were made out of flour and when Rapunzel died and the Witch sang the Lament, she un-swaddled the baby and the flour fell out and none of it made any sense. Lastly, during the scene where the stepsisters were trying on the golden slipper, what should be in the background was in the front and what should have been in the foreground was in the background. Need I mention the human harp, who in that costume looked like she was a cast member of Rock of Ages who got lost and ended up in Into the Woods.
The cast was fine. One of the standouts was David Martinez as the Narrator although sometimes, while he was playing with the toys, he looked just a little bit bored but that was due to the director giving him nothing to do. Other than that, Martinez was delightful and was one of the best people in the show. There was also Jamille Brewster who did a really nice job as Cinderella and Raul Valdez who's voice was lovely as Rapunzel's Prince. I also have to give props to Ana Cristina Grajeda who was Rapunzel. Although we couldn't hear her when she was at the top of the stage, that was the orchestra's fault and not her's. When Grajeda was on the ground we were able to see that she was making the most of her otherwise thankless role. Same goes for Saleen Brodie who was great as the Steward. Grajeda should have been cast as Little Red Riding Hood rather than Rapunzel because Montalvo couldn't be heard over the large orchestra, in addition to having a rather weak singing voice . Her acting performance can be compared to that of Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae in "The Phantom of the Opera." William Steele was fine as Jack, but nothing really stood out about his performance. I don't care that they used adults for Little Red Riding Hood and Jack because that's how they did it in the original production, but I do care that an attempt wasn't even made to give the characters a childlike feel and it was obvious that the two performers were in their late 20s-early 30s.
Everyone else in the cast was just sort of there. David Herring had a good voice as the Baker, but really didn't do anything for me acting wise until about halfway through the second act. Director, Courtney Curtis, played the role of the Baker's Wife and she was fine vocally but really didn't appear to be acting throughout the show. This is just a note but the way Curtis was touching herself during "Moments in the Woods" was disgusting and it needs to stop. Almost everyone in the cast was talented but the show really suffered from the poor direction and as a result nobody in the cast was actually acting; so only Martinez, Brewster, and Valdez were the only ones in the major roles who genuinely stood out. It actually could have been a really good production of the show with this exact same cast. I know sometimes I complain about lack of originality but this production probably should have stuck to the original concept and staging. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of this production was taken from London's 2010 Regent Park Production. Perhaps things like that don't always work when a different creative team takes on the same concept.
There were a few good things and those were the set and the costumes. The set (by Steve Hayes) looked really cool and it worked well for the show. The costumes (by Nancy Hayes) were also quite nice. Costumes that stood out were the Stepsisters, among others that appeared throughout the show. Some costumes didn't fare as well as others though. Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf are among those few and the dress that Cinderella wore in the act one finale wasn't a bad dress by any means, it was just super out of place and did not work in the show at all. It looked more like a dress you'd expect to find on the red carpet at an awards show. The lighting (by Brianna Miranda) was quite the opposite of the set and costumes. Throughout the show, lights were turning on and off at random times and it was really noticeable. In the second act, all of the lights were cutting in and out but I am going to guess that was due to electrical shortages and not due to performer error.
El Paso's general theatergoers are most likely wondering which production of "Into the Woods" was superior: EPCC or Sun City Musial Theatre? I never thought I would say this about any production of Into the Woods but the EPCC production was actually better than this one. While the EPCC production was a mess, you can at least say it got better in the second half and you could at least say it felt like you were watching a production of Into the Woods, let alone, a show. I can't say either of those things about this production; It truly was a mess. It never improved throughout the show and I actually found myself laughing at things that weren't supposed to be funny in the second act. In the EPCC production I can still say I cried because of what happened in the story. In this production I did not because of the way that the production was carried out.
Overall, Sun City Musical Theatre's "Into the Woods" was an overproduced, chaotic mess. Even though most of the acting wasn't that great, it's not even the performer's fault it was bad, it was the director's. This show could have been pretty good with most of the same cast but the concept was so poorly executed and once again, it felt like I was having a fever dream. As I sit here writing this, I still can't get over what I saw last night (I am writing this on Saturday, you probably won't see this until Sunday or Monday). It really is worth seeing because everything I've talked about that was done in this production totally sounds unreal but I am actually telling the truth; this is something that actually happened in real life. What is going on?
Sun City Musical Theatre's production of "INTO THE WOODS" was directed by Courtney Curtis and the cast consists of:
Narrator- STEVIE HAYES or DAVID MARTINEZ
Cinderella- JAMILLE BREWSTER
Jack- WILLIAM STEELE
Jack's Mother- SANDRA KNEESKERN
The Baker- DAVID HERRING
The Baker's Wife- COURTNEY CURTIS
Cinderella's Stepmother- KENDRA TILAIA
Florinda- CATRINA LAYSONE
Lucinda-AUTUMN ROBINSON
Little Red Riding Hood- ANGELINA MONTAVLO
The Witch- BRITNEY WILLIAMS
Rapunzel- ANA CRISTINA GRAJEDA
Mysterious Man- DAVID TOMBLIN or DAVID MARTINEZ
Cinderella's Prince- GABE RIVERA
Wolf/Rapunzel's Prince- RAUL VALDEZ
Steward 1-SALEEN BRODIE
Steward 2- PATRICK SHIMEL
*I'VE REVIEWED INTO THE WOODS A FEW TIMES BEFORE, I AM NOT EXPLAINING THE PLOT AGAIN FOR THE SAKE OF THIS BLOG'S ORIGINALITY. WE ARE GOING STRAIGHT INTO WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION.*
First and foremost, this production used a 32 piece orchestra and I could barely hear a thing that any of the performers were singing! The orchestra sounded good, but they drowned out the performers, BIG TIME. The orchestra was clearly using some sort of microphones when it should have been the cast with the microphones. This isn't the mid 20th century, performers need amplification to their voices because hardly anyone could sing over a 32 piece orchestra, and nobody in this production could. Just about everyone's voice was lost and it wasn't even their fault because they had to sing over what was practically a symphony orchestra with no amplification. If they really wanted the orchestra, they should have reduced the size of it because I could just barely hear the performers and sometimes not at all.
From the second the show started, it was absolute chaos. There was too much going on for the entire show and I never knew where to look. It actually looked like people were just running around the stage and there was no cohesiveness to any of the staging. It didn't even feel like I was watching a show for the whole 2.5 hours because of how chaotic it was. In the opening number alone, there was a girl who was cast as a table and the cast came onstage carrying tree branches which were supposed to represent birds. It made no sense whatsoever. Something else that was super inordinate was the choreography (by Courtney Curtis). It overwhelmed the stage and it was just extremely overdone and over dramatic.
After the highly overwhelming opening number, the show continued to be a mess as it went on. There were poor acting choices throughout the entire show. One of the scenes I had a huge issue with was "Hello, Little Girl" was because the scene was poorly blocked and because it was too creepy. I know the song is supposed to have the pedophilic undertones, but the actress playing Little Red Riding Hood (Angelina Montalvo) was way too into it and it was unsettling. There were a lot of distracting things in this show but one of those things was that during the scenes in the woods (so basically all of them) there was glitter flying in the air and it was SUPER distracting. I was missing parts of the show because I found myself staring at the random glitter. But you can't even say that it looked good. It was just random glitter flying through the air. I actually thought I was going crazy until the person I was with said that they saw the glitter too.
There were more odd visual and direction choices. For example in the scene where the wolf eats Little Red, rather than having an actual bed, they had people holding a blanket and pillows. It was WEIRD but it wasn't even the weirdest thing in this production....that honor goes to the framing device which didn't make any sense. A part of the framing device which included the narrator (played by a child, David Martinez or Stevie Hayes) and his father who don't have an amazing relationship. At the very beginning of the show, they were screaming "I hate you" at each other and then they went to "Once upon a time" and...I don't know, but it added nothing, went nowhere, and once again, made no sense. Also a part of the framing device, was that the narrator was onstage for the entire show reenacting the show with dolls in the background. However, it didn't even look like that. It just looked like a kid lip syncing with dolls in the background. I also MUST mention that the Narrator was leaving his toys on the ground throughout the show and there was a Dora the Explorer doll that actually felt like it was taking up half of the stage because of how distracting it was. Somewhere in this framing device, which already sounds bad on paper, there was a smart idea but it was just executed so poorly by the director, Courtney Curtis.
A lot of the staging choices made you wonder what was going through the director's mind when those choices were made. There were so many little issues that could have easily been solved by just looking at the show. For example, while Rapunzel was in the "tower", you couldn't see her or hear her because she was so high up that the lights weren't even hitting her and she had to sing over the 32 piece orchestra from so high up. There were also scenes that felt like I was having a fever dream (and looking back on it, I think I was). One of those scenes was "The First Midnight" into "Giants in the Sky." There were these people with green umbrellas and it honestly looked like something straight out of "Singin' in the Rain." They were just twirling them back and forth and I didn't know what they were supposed to be? Bushes? Clouds? Who knows! There were SO MANY strange moments in this show. There was a part where the stepsisters came out on leashes, Rapunzel's babies were made out of flour and when Rapunzel died and the Witch sang the Lament, she un-swaddled the baby and the flour fell out and none of it made any sense. Lastly, during the scene where the stepsisters were trying on the golden slipper, what should be in the background was in the front and what should have been in the foreground was in the background. Need I mention the human harp, who in that costume looked like she was a cast member of Rock of Ages who got lost and ended up in Into the Woods.
The cast was fine. One of the standouts was David Martinez as the Narrator although sometimes, while he was playing with the toys, he looked just a little bit bored but that was due to the director giving him nothing to do. Other than that, Martinez was delightful and was one of the best people in the show. There was also Jamille Brewster who did a really nice job as Cinderella and Raul Valdez who's voice was lovely as Rapunzel's Prince. I also have to give props to Ana Cristina Grajeda who was Rapunzel. Although we couldn't hear her when she was at the top of the stage, that was the orchestra's fault and not her's. When Grajeda was on the ground we were able to see that she was making the most of her otherwise thankless role. Same goes for Saleen Brodie who was great as the Steward. Grajeda should have been cast as Little Red Riding Hood rather than Rapunzel because Montalvo couldn't be heard over the large orchestra, in addition to having a rather weak singing voice . Her acting performance can be compared to that of Sarah Brightman as Christine Daae in "The Phantom of the Opera." William Steele was fine as Jack, but nothing really stood out about his performance. I don't care that they used adults for Little Red Riding Hood and Jack because that's how they did it in the original production, but I do care that an attempt wasn't even made to give the characters a childlike feel and it was obvious that the two performers were in their late 20s-early 30s.
Everyone else in the cast was just sort of there. David Herring had a good voice as the Baker, but really didn't do anything for me acting wise until about halfway through the second act. Director, Courtney Curtis, played the role of the Baker's Wife and she was fine vocally but really didn't appear to be acting throughout the show. This is just a note but the way Curtis was touching herself during "Moments in the Woods" was disgusting and it needs to stop. Almost everyone in the cast was talented but the show really suffered from the poor direction and as a result nobody in the cast was actually acting; so only Martinez, Brewster, and Valdez were the only ones in the major roles who genuinely stood out. It actually could have been a really good production of the show with this exact same cast. I know sometimes I complain about lack of originality but this production probably should have stuck to the original concept and staging. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of this production was taken from London's 2010 Regent Park Production. Perhaps things like that don't always work when a different creative team takes on the same concept.
There were a few good things and those were the set and the costumes. The set (by Steve Hayes) looked really cool and it worked well for the show. The costumes (by Nancy Hayes) were also quite nice. Costumes that stood out were the Stepsisters, among others that appeared throughout the show. Some costumes didn't fare as well as others though. Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf are among those few and the dress that Cinderella wore in the act one finale wasn't a bad dress by any means, it was just super out of place and did not work in the show at all. It looked more like a dress you'd expect to find on the red carpet at an awards show. The lighting (by Brianna Miranda) was quite the opposite of the set and costumes. Throughout the show, lights were turning on and off at random times and it was really noticeable. In the second act, all of the lights were cutting in and out but I am going to guess that was due to electrical shortages and not due to performer error.
El Paso's general theatergoers are most likely wondering which production of "Into the Woods" was superior: EPCC or Sun City Musial Theatre? I never thought I would say this about any production of Into the Woods but the EPCC production was actually better than this one. While the EPCC production was a mess, you can at least say it got better in the second half and you could at least say it felt like you were watching a production of Into the Woods, let alone, a show. I can't say either of those things about this production; It truly was a mess. It never improved throughout the show and I actually found myself laughing at things that weren't supposed to be funny in the second act. In the EPCC production I can still say I cried because of what happened in the story. In this production I did not because of the way that the production was carried out.
Overall, Sun City Musical Theatre's "Into the Woods" was an overproduced, chaotic mess. Even though most of the acting wasn't that great, it's not even the performer's fault it was bad, it was the director's. This show could have been pretty good with most of the same cast but the concept was so poorly executed and once again, it felt like I was having a fever dream. As I sit here writing this, I still can't get over what I saw last night (I am writing this on Saturday, you probably won't see this until Sunday or Monday). It really is worth seeing because everything I've talked about that was done in this production totally sounds unreal but I am actually telling the truth; this is something that actually happened in real life. What is going on?
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Narrator- STEVIE HAYES or DAVID MARTINEZ
Cinderella- JAMILLE BREWSTER
Jack- WILLIAM STEELE
Jack's Mother- SANDRA KNEESKERN
The Baker- DAVID HERRING
The Baker's Wife- COURTNEY CURTIS
Cinderella's Stepmother- KENDRA TILAIA
Florinda- CATRINA LAYSONE
Lucinda-AUTUMN ROBINSON
Little Red Riding Hood- ANGELINA MONTAVLO
The Witch- BRITNEY WILLIAMS
Rapunzel- ANA CRISTINA GRAJEDA
Mysterious Man- DAVID TOMBLIN or DAVID MARTINEZ
Cinderella's Prince- GABE RIVERA
Wolf/Rapunzel's Prince- RAUL VALDEZ
Steward 1-SALEEN BRODIE
Steward 2- PATRICK SHIMEL
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