Into the Woods review: a ‘spellbinding’ and ‘irresistible’ production
This show, now staged in Bath, is spectacular to behold

This production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods was summarily cancelled by the Old Vic last year, said Clive Davis in The Times, a few months before it was due to open. Co-director Terry Gilliam – “still a free spirit at the age of 81” – had, it seems, fallen foul of younger staff who were reported to have felt “uneasy” about remarks he had made about the #MeToo movement and transgender issues. His “thought crimes”, said Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail, apparently included recommending a Netflix special by the African-American comedian Dave Chappelle. “What a relief, therefore, to see that artistic merit can still triumph over small minds.” The production, now staged in Bath, is spectacular to behold, and takes a “childlike delight in every aspect of James Lapine’s story”, weaving together an assortment of fairy tales.
Gilliam deserves “three cheers” for his resilience, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. And Theatre Royal Bath should be applauded too for stepping in – “fairy godmother-fashion” – to stage the piece. The production itself? “Two-and-a-half cheers.” Visually, it is indeed “spellbinding” – an almost “hallucinogenic” feast, full of “surreal surprises”. Animal-headed figures prowl the woods, while Rapunzel is “confined to a tower made of two outsized baked beans and garden peas tins, as if inside some installation by the late Claes Oldenburg”. Vocally, it’s “a mixed bag”, however, with more “heft, attack and pace” needed at points.
What makes Into the Woods so “irresistible” is that it combines quirky fun with a “profound exploration of parental anxiety and loss”, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. “First we laugh at its wisecracks and wit, then we feel for its lost folkloric icons.” Gilliam and Leah Hausman’s production captures the first quality: it’s “visually enticing” and playful, and “excels in its aesthetics of dark, dreamlike otherworldliness”, with fluttering puppetry, gorgeous masks and “fabulous” lighting – all wonderfully “elegant”. But it lacks true emotional power, and it never “quite manages to pull us into the musical’s mournful depths”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Until 10 September at Theatre Royal Bath (01225-448844); theatreroyal.org.uk
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Film reviews: Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, and Final Destination: Bloodlines
Feature Tom Cruise risks life and limb to entertain us, a young girl befriends a destructive alien, and death stalks a family that resets fate's toll.
-
Music reviews: Morgan Wallen and Kali Uchis
Feature "I'm the Problem" and "Sincerely"