Your Chicago Guide’s tickets for two to the press opening of Into the Woods courtesy of Kokandy Productions.
Kokandy Productions concludes its 2024 season with an immersive production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic Into The Woods. This is the first Chicago storefront production of the beloved musical in over a decade. Directed and choreographed by producing artistic director Derek Van Barham with music direction by Nick Sula, Into The Woods will play through December 22, 2024 at The Chopin Studio Theatre.
Escape into a fantastical fairytale adventure where wishes come true, but not always for free. A trove of storybook characters’ paths intertwine as they chase their deepest desires through an enchanted forest. However, once they receive their happily ever after, the unintended consequences of granted wishes unravel their worlds. Weaving a euphoric score including the songs “Giants in the Sky,” “On the Steps of the Palace,” “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen” with a darkly humorous book, Into the Woods is a sophisticated musical twist on beloved childhood fables.
“What will we find when we wander into these woods?” asks director and choreographer Derek Van Barham. “A company of players, a beloved musical and a little magic. Our hope is that by re-orchestrating for 2 pianos and a cast of 12 (half of them doubling) we can focus on the intimate and immersive nature of the show, capturing the desperate need to be seen, to be remembered and to gather together to share (and receive) a good story.”
Music Director Nick Sula adds, “Many of the characters in this musical are introduced in pairs – The Baker and The Baker’s Wife, Jack and Little Red, the two Stepsisters, the two Princes – so it felt natural to include the music, the musicians and the instruments themselves as a mirror of that. Our team of three pianist/orchestrators collaborated to create a unique sound with a two-piano, four-(or more!)-hand approach that features a duo of acoustic grand pianos. We are delighted to share the full depth and breadth of Stephen Sondheim’s music with our audiences in this hauntingly majestic and intimate re-imagination.”
The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. The play is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of the Grimm Brothers’ “Rapunzel”), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey.
Into the Woods covers multiple themes: growing up, parents and children, accepting responsibility, morality, and finally, wish fulfillment and its consequences. The play’s basic insight that, at their heart, most fairy tales are about the loving yet embattled relationship between parents and children. Almost everything that goes wrong—which is to say, almost everything that can—arises from a failure of parental or filial duty, despite the best intentions.” Music and film critic Stephen Holden wrote that the show’s themes include parent-child relationships and the individual’s responsibility to the community. The witch isn’t just a scowling old hag, but a key symbol of moral ambivalence. Lapine said that the most unpleasant person (the Witch) would have the truest things to say and the “nicer” people would be less honest. In the Witch’s words: “I’m not good; I’m not nice; I’m just right.”
As huge Sondheim fans, we could not wait to see Kokandy Productions’ interpretation of Into the Woods. A true ensemble piece, the musical features several stellar vocal performances. Limited by the size of the space, choreography was slim, but what the ensemble did perform worked. The show was fully immersive, making audience an integral part of its staging, with actors engaging the viewers throughout the space. Some characters and actions too expansive for the space were implied or marked by the clever use of props and lights. After all, one doesn’t have to see the Giant to know he’s there.
An allegory on life, and choices, and coming of age, Kokandy’s Into the Woods is a play for everyone. children and adults alike will be delighted by it, and more likely than not, will walk away, humming: “Into the woods, into the woods, into the woods…” Because magic is happening in the basement of the Chopin Theatre.
Kokandy Productions Into the Woods in now on stage at the Chopin Studio Theatre at 1543 West Division Street, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are available here.