Post Gazette: "Great shows are continually reborn. And Stephen Sondheim and James Laine's 'Into the Woods' is a great musical, witty and wise, with the broad compassion and complexity of a Shakespearean comedy.
But it didn't necessarily follow I was eager to see it, even at Carnegie Mellon, because expectation can set you up for disappointment. At the last minute, I squeezed into one of the last available seats Saturday afternoon -- and I was enchanted, as would be Sondheim himself, or you, if you can still get a ticket."
13 comments:
This review is leagues away from what we received on "The Other Shore" more importantly, I think it more accurately represents the work put on stage. I have the great opportunity to watch the show every night from the booth and, while it is work, I am finding more and more about the production that I love. Some of which was brought out in this review. I think it was a well written article, that praised the brilliant work on and off stage but also was very clear about the show. It is long and it may not be appropriate for young children. Although I did notice quite a few in the house during opening weekend.
I am glad to see we got a decent review from the same paper that gave us such a dismal one for "OTHER SHORE." It is interesting, however, that it wasn't very critical of the show, but more so a summary of the show. I'm still just thrilled that the cast and crew got praise, and that the ZFX crew wasn't called out in the article!
To echo the sentiments of others, I was "enchanted" with the review ITW was given in Gazett, especially in contrast with the review of The Other Shore. All too often, reviewers offer too much of a summary of the production and not an actual critique. Our author was conscious and specific in his statements about characters and design elements. This guy was really playing attention. Glad to know the show is being well received by audiences -- the cast and crew should be proud!
This review is WAY better than the review we received for The Other Shore. Even though Into The Woods is a longer show, it is still nice to hear good things about the show. The actors have done an amazing job on this show and I am glad they are receiving some credit.
it definitely worked as a word of mouth for ticket sales. box office was almost selling all of the tickets for the weekends. it is unfortunate that Lapine's name is spelled incorrectly. i love the last quick comment about Kyle, i think it is funny.
This review seems to only scratch the surface of everything that is in the show. I am glad to hear that the average layman did enjoy the show though. I agree with this paper that the actors were VERY good and although not much of the tech is called out, that is usually a a good thing, for it means it didn't detract from the show. I am looking forward to hearing what the freshmen think as a whole when we critique this show because I have a feeling that people from different backgrounds have very different opinions.
"But along the way there are dark elements. These come to the fore in Act 2, when the natural human inability to settle for contentment and the arrival of a justifiably anguished giant drive the story beyond "happy ever after" to a post-apocalyptic world of danger and struggle."...
Its interesting that this always seems to work its way into our productions. Personally I am usually a fan of the way we work this into our productions, but its odd that we have such a reputation for it being in all our productions.
Unlike the review we received for The Other Shore, this review contained more praise, however I do believe that it lacked the critical eye that was present for The Other Shore. While praise is nice (and especially beneficial during the run of the show) I believe that a balance must be struck between full out attack of a production and praise without a critical eye.
It is so hard to talk about all the great things that this show presented in just one article. I personally loved the show. I saw it Thursday evening and I thought it was great. The energy was amazing, and the lighting blew me away. It was beautifully done, great job guys!!
I am ashamed to say that I have still not seen Into The Woods although this shall change very shortly. I know the musical fairly well and I am excited to see all the different design elements come together. From the article I can assume that as usual the show will be moving and intriguing. With the direction that Kent, the director, took with the show, I am a bit excited just to see how he incorporated all his different ideas into it. We will see how good the show is!
I was expecting to read a review of the show, but as Andrew pointed out, this article basically just sums up the story. I would have liked to have read more commentary on specific choices this particular production illustrated. It's great that he's enthusiastic about the production--I myself saw ITW last week and enjoyed it a lot--but I think his review could have had more substance.
The review seems to kind of embody the the perspective that if nothing goes wrong, no one notices, but the moment something does everyone can see it. "Into the Woods" is a little bit more publicly accessible in my view then The Other Shore was which is probably when the review is noticeably more positive. I do not remember if the reviewer is the same person, and if it is, I am happy to see that a show he did not like did not turn him off of CMU Theater indefinatley. I do however feel his closing remark about the President Elect to be just unnecessary.
It is nice to see Into the Woods receive a positive review. More importantly the critic takes notice of very specific details meaning that the show was able to captivate his attention regardless of its long running times.
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