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What awaits audiences when they venture "Into the Woods" at Kent State University at Trumbull?
They'll find the best collection of vocalists to grace its theater stage in recent memory.
Director Harmon Andrews has a great cast -- the chance to do a Stephen Sondheim musical (with book by James Lapine) usually brings out the best in the local talent pool as well as some willing to travel for the opportunity -- and music director Clay Colley has the actors executing the often difficult songs as a unit and frequently shining on the solo numbers.
As the Baker and the Baker's Wife, Conner Bezeredi and Carolyn Colley both have well-honed vocal instruments that can handle the technical demands of their duets and individual numbers as well as the ability to express the nuance and emotion of those songs.
Craig Conrad's baritone is so enticing as The Wolf on "Hello, Little Girl" that audience members will be disappointed the character doesn't survive the first act.
The obvious wordplay to describe the duet by Gwen Baker (Rapunzel's Prince) and Aman Singh (Cinderella's Prince) on "Agony" is that it's ecstasy. Yeah, it's obvious, but it's also accurate.
Andrews takes a risk that many directors of "Into the Woods" avoid, and here it pays off. Because of the challenges of the music, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack (of the Beanstalk fairy tale) often are played by adults, but Andrews opted for performers close to the characters' actual ages. Maddie Wason's vocal performance is a stunner on "I Know Things Now." Katara Brown occasionally is drowned out by the recorded orchestrations, but both actors proved they belonged alongside their more experienced castmates.
As the witch, Sarah Whitlatch has several vocal showcases and delivers on every one of them, even in the first act when she is wearing a fake chin that looks like it came from a 1970s Halloween costume.
That chin is one of the only elements that falls short in the look of the production. Some of the costumes by Peter Sherman -- The Wolf, The Mysterious Man, the gowns of Cinderella and Rapunzel -- wouldn't be out of place on a Broadway stage.
Kenzie James-Ramsey's set design transports viewers into the metaphorical forest, and the lighting design by Cordell Ramsey and sound design by Eric John Keuntz allow that forest set to shift from inviting to ominous, depending upon the needs of the story. The sound work is particularly effective in making the audience feel the presence of the never-seen Giant in the second act.
The way Andrews uses the performance space, regularly having actors make entrances and exits from the theater's aisles, gives the show an immersive quality, as if the audience is in the woods with the performers.
His work with the actors accentuates the humor in the story. The actors hit the punchlines hard in Lapine' dialogue, and there are bits of physical comedy as well, such as the blinded stepsisters (Jessica Ludovici, Emily Slusarz) of Cinderella (Rachael Conrad).
Doing a Sondheim show for a first attempt at directing a musical takes some bravado. A talented cast and production team helps Andrews make it look easy.