It is difficult to take an established, award-winning musical and present it with fresh vision. As such, on Friday evening, I took my seat with a fair amount of doubt. However, within the first 10 minutes of the opening, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the Brandeis Theater Company’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”

The show was staged in the Mainstage Theater of Spingold Theater Center, running from March 16 to 18. It was directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent, an accomplished performer and educator, and Kelli Edwards, who choreographed the Brandeis Theater Company’s production of “Cabaret” in 2013. Edwards also served as choreographer for this production.

“Into the Woods” is, famously, a musical about fairytales, but Parent and Edwards present it as a musical about storytelling — a small but meaningful distinction. Rather than thrusting the audience into the setting of fairytales, the Brandeis Theater Company whisked the audience away into a realm of a reader’s imagination, opening the whole show with a cluttered attic and a large, dusty book.

The set, designed by Alexa Gilbert ’18 and Qingyi (Brenda) Shen ’18, made use of items commonly found in attics — shoes, coat racks, lamps and trunks — to create the titular forest of the show, both fantastical and a reminder that the whole musical is elaborate make-believe. The use of a bicycle as the cow, Milky-White, was truly inspired. One of the most novel moments of the show was when the Narrator (Rodrigo Alfaro Garcia Granados ’18) cycled across the stage, mooing furiously, to depict the cow running away in the woods.

Narrator intervention recurred throughout the show, in a tastefully meta way and Granados played his role well, blending into the background when necessary to let his castmates take centerstage. Casey Schryer ’21 made a charming Brandeis theater debut as Cinderella, and Kaitlin Cavallo ’21 demonstrated great comedic timing in her role as Jack’s Mother.

Tova Weinberger ’18 made a delightful Little Red Riding Hood, suitably annoying as the role requires. I worried in some of her songs that the strain to reach the character’s notoriously high pitch was impeding her ability for emotional inflection, but she still managed to get each of her songs stuck in my head for hours. Seth Wulf ’21 played a convincingly foolish Jack, whose love for his cow managed to somehow be touching as well as humorous. Though I wish he could have brought just a little more childish enthusiasm into his giant-hunting adventures, he was always a welcome presence on the stage.

However, as with many iterations of “Into the Woods,” the Witch was a standout performance. Rebecca Myers ’18 gave a truly impressive performance, catching the nuances of the Witch’s character arc. In the start of the show, she was a caricature — as she should be — showy and threatening. But as the story began to go off the rails, Myers drew out real emotional depth, particularly in her interactions with Rapunzel, played by Halley Geringer ’19.  

There was a mishap in Friday’s performance in which Geringer’s wig got caught under the cage she stood in, preventing her smooth exit from the stage. Geringer’s calm reaction and Myers’ swift improvisation was met with well-deserved applause. Another, more intentionally memorable scene was when the Witch stood silent, a juxtaposition to the rest of the chattering cast following Rapunzel’s sudden death.

As a whole, everyone brought their best performances in the second act of the show. Though I had wished the Princes (Ben Astrachan ’19 and Zain Walker ’18) had been more impassioned in their key song “Agony” in Act I, they brought double the drama and double the laughs in “Agony Reprise.” Adina Jacobson ’20 took advantage of her solo as the Baker’s Wife in “Moment in the Woods,” showcasing her comedic and emotional range.

There was, however, one major detriment to the production: Several times throughout the musical, characters entered the scene with their mics too quiet. As a result, their first lines were swallowed up by the music, and the sound mixing often left the brass instruments too loud or too tinny. 

As a whole, however, the Brandeis Theater Company’s production of “Into the Woods” presented fresh vision and lively direction, and the cast tied it all together into a performance to be proud of. 

—Editor’s note: Maya Zanger-Nadis ’21, a Justice Arts editorial assistant, was a on the crew for this production. She did not take part in editing this article.