Knock On Woods
Rivkah Rogawski
Issue date: 12/21/09 Section: Arts and Culture
At the Stern College Dramatics Society's annual musical this December, the audience traveled to a dangerous, dark and magical place. The forests of "Into the Woods" are a place where childhood fairytales take on a dark yet sparkling luster. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, the musical weaves together the stories of "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Rapunzel," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Jack and the Beanstalk" to create an intricate plot that explores the mature, adult aspects of each fairytale.
Classic characters such as Jack and Cinderella emerge from the flat pages of storybooks to assume round personalities full of quirks and foibles. The Stern College production, directed by Tiferet Weiss and produced by Shira Sragow, stayed true to the spirit of the Sondheim original, presenting the musical in its full, two-act form. Although the production was at times variable in quality, the actresses entertained and charmed the audience with their unique interpretations of this musical theater classic.
The musical opens with a vibrant prologue, courtesy of the narrator (the enchanting Lauren Tessler), which introduces the characters and their stories while building around them the themes of longing and desire that inform the play overall. The Baker, the main protagonist (Rachel Nemzer), longs to build a family with his better half, the Baker's Wife (Rebecca Grazi).
After an obnoxious Little Red Riding Hood (Laura Mintzer) buys some of their baked goods to take to her Granny (Shifra Zack), the evil, humpbacked Witch (Rachelle Stark), arrives and informs him that she has placed a curse on his family tree. In order to end this curse, he must go into the woods and find the hair as yellow as corn, the shoe of purest gold, the cow as white as milk, and the cape as red as blood. The simpleton Jack (Marissa Newman) lives in poverty with his overbearing mother (Karen Steinberger) who sends him into the woods to sell their cow, Milky White. Cinderella (Chaya Kessler) is abused by her stepmother (Tova Greenbaum) and stepsisters (Lauren Burstein and Liat Tretin), and she defiantly wishes to go to the prince's ball. She flees to her mother's grave in the woods, to cry over her misfortune.
Classic characters such as Jack and Cinderella emerge from the flat pages of storybooks to assume round personalities full of quirks and foibles. The Stern College production, directed by Tiferet Weiss and produced by Shira Sragow, stayed true to the spirit of the Sondheim original, presenting the musical in its full, two-act form. Although the production was at times variable in quality, the actresses entertained and charmed the audience with their unique interpretations of this musical theater classic.
The musical opens with a vibrant prologue, courtesy of the narrator (the enchanting Lauren Tessler), which introduces the characters and their stories while building around them the themes of longing and desire that inform the play overall. The Baker, the main protagonist (Rachel Nemzer), longs to build a family with his better half, the Baker's Wife (Rebecca Grazi).
After an obnoxious Little Red Riding Hood (Laura Mintzer) buys some of their baked goods to take to her Granny (Shifra Zack), the evil, humpbacked Witch (Rachelle Stark), arrives and informs him that she has placed a curse on his family tree. In order to end this curse, he must go into the woods and find the hair as yellow as corn, the shoe of purest gold, the cow as white as milk, and the cape as red as blood. The simpleton Jack (Marissa Newman) lives in poverty with his overbearing mother (Karen Steinberger) who sends him into the woods to sell their cow, Milky White. Cinderella (Chaya Kessler) is abused by her stepmother (Tova Greenbaum) and stepsisters (Lauren Burstein and Liat Tretin), and she defiantly wishes to go to the prince's ball. She flees to her mother's grave in the woods, to cry over her misfortune.
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