Stephen Sondheim's deconstruction of fairy tales in Into the Woods is both an intellectual and a theatrical experience. He's a unique wordsmith, and a quirky, zany, subtle, tunesmith. The fun in Act One is his cleverness in retelling the familiar tales. The fun in Act Two is his dark but theatrical take of the aftermath of "Lived happily ever after." With the flawless casting of John McMartin, Laura Benanti, Kerry O'Malley, Molly Ephraim, Gregg Edelman, and the entire rest of the ensemble, playing in Douglas W. Schmidt's imaginative sets, costumed perfectly by Susan Hilferty, and with fine lighting by Brian MacDevitt, book writer and director James Lapine gives us that unusual evening in theater: you really want to catch and enjoy all the lyrics, and vibrate to the non-ordinary music.
