Last night we went to see Mr. Bluth's favorite musical--Into the Woods. He had never seen it performed live before and this was essentially a dream come true. Into the Woods was playing at the Mercury Theatre, a quaint, 100-year-old theatre near Wrigley Field. It seats less than 300 and if felt even smaller than that.
The best word to describe the set is creative. Which is not a very creative way of describing it. A more specific description would be: playtime. The set was a play room with toys scattered throughout it. There were toy chests, doll houses, a moveable slide (which doubled as Rapunzel's tower), and colorful toddler chairs that lined the sides. At first Mr. Bluth thought it was a little bit gimmicky.
The Narrator came out and, before officially starting, changed his sweater and shoes (a la Mr. Rogers) before taking role to start the show. Each character was given a piece of clothing to symbolize their character. Cinderella had her trusty tool belt, Little Red Riding Hood had her Superman cape, the Baker his apron, and Jack had one of those folded newspaper hats that little boys use their imagination to lead them on adventures with.
Into the Woods always has some performers doubling up on roles (the Narrator/Mysterious Man) but because this cast was playing dress up in a play room, they were able to take on multiple roles and, on occasion, multiple actors played the same role. Milky White must have been a confused cow by the end.
Cinderella would trade in her tool belt (later a tutu, the better to go to the festival with) for Rapunzel's wig. Jack would trade in his hat for the mustache of a faithful steward. Interestingly, when a cast member did not have any of their assigned characters on stage, they would sit on the toddler chairs on the sides and watch. After all, this was playtime for them, not actual woods. Speaking of the woods, the woods were just balloons. Balloons are just trees. Huh? That's what we thought too.
It was fun and light-hearted. Even in the second act when the play takes a deep turn when everyone's lives fall apart, the playtime set wasn't distracting. I think we realized how much effort everyone was putting into this production. Nobody was ever off stage because they were sitting in those toddler chairs on the side. Some (the Narrator especially) stayed extremely focused while others were trying to catch their breath and take a quick break. By the end of three hours we had really gotten to know them on stage, off stage, and as multiple characters.
The absolute best part (for Mr. Bluth and why it is favorite) was the intricate singing and all the duets. "Agony" was comedy. "Your Fault," with the few remaining characters, was brilliant. And all of the duets between the nameless, childless Baker and his wife were great. They fought through "The Spell is on My House." Reconciled in "It Takes Two." Fought again, and at the end, reconciled.
"Into the Woods" can mean a lot of things. Right now our "Woods" is Chicago. And we're learning some wonderful cliche adages like "nice is different than good" and coming home "knowing things that [we] never knew before" is actively changing our limited paradigm. Hopefully, we are making good use of our playtime out here.
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