Kate Fleetwood and Jamie Parker lead an elegant revival of the celebrated 1987 musical
It is a celebrated motif in Shakespeare plays: characters shake off the confines of their daily lives by escaping into the forest, that transformative green space beyond the city – a place ripe with possibility and peril. In fairytales as well, anything and everything can happen in the woods and it is this notion of liminality that Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (book) absorbed for their celebrated 1987 musical, which now receives its first major London revival since Sondheim’s death in 2021.
This prestige creative’s work has always attracted a devoted fanbase and the adoration levels are only going to climb now.
Director Jordan Fein did terrific work with Fiddler on the Roof at the Open Air Theatre in London last year, and here he offers a high-class production stuffed with talent. From the lengthy and jaunty eponymous opening number, with its tantalising refrain of “I wish”, we know that we are in safe musical hands.
Various Brothers Grimm tales start to interweave around the central pairing of a childless Baker (Jamie Parker) and his wife (Katie Brayben), who learn that they are under the curse of a witch (Kate Fleetwood); in order to lift it and have a longed-for child, they must summon their courage and venture into the woods, lushly offered by designer Tom Scutt.
Cinderella (rising star Chumisa Dornford-May), beanstalk-baiting Jack (Jo Foster) and Little Red Riding Hood (Gracie McGonigal) are also on manoeuvres out there, while a bewildered-looking narrator (Michael Gould) attempts to keep the story on track. The first half climaxes with myriad wishes being granted, but never forget that this is Sondheim not Disney. A dark second act, which occasionally lapses into bagginess, worries at the eternal question of what happens after the happily ever after – and throws a rampaging giant into the mix too.
This musical has an unmistakably elegant froideur about it, making it easier to admire than love. Yet how very much there is to admire, from Parker’s earnest good nature to Brayben’s spirited determination to Dornford-May’s soaring voice. McGonigal is a delight as a greedy young woman whose hood has a defiantly perky point to it and whose number “I Know Things Now” speaks suggestively of all manner of experience gained. Gould continues to prove that he is the most reliably excellent supporting actor around, lifting any ensemble by his mere presence.
And what about Fleetwood? Not content with being one of our finest dramatic actresses, she proves once again what a notable musical theatre performer she is as well, luxuriating in the Witch’s flamboyant transformation from a vile hag to an imperious rejuvenated beauty. Fleetwood soars vocally in “The Last Midnight”, one of the evening’s musical showstoppers as the end draws nigh. “Children Will Listen”, says the quietly haunting last song, a stylish, salutary and oh-so-Sondheimian reminder that stories have impact and wishes have consequences.
To 30 May, Bridge Theatre, London (0333 320 0051, bridgetheatre.co.uk)
