Phoenix Theatre Company Presents

Into the Woods

An ambivalent Cinderella? A blood-thirsty Little Red Ridinghood? A Prince Charming with a roving eye? A Witch ... who raps? They're all among the cockeyed characters in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's fractured fairy tale.

When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects ( a cow as white as milk... a cape as red as blood... hair as yellow as corn... a slipper as  pure as gold... ) required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella (with the slipper as pure as gold) Little Red Ridinghood (with a cape as red as blood) Rapunzel (with the hair as yellow as corn) and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk - with the cow as white as milk).

Everyone's wish is granted at the end of Act One but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later, with disastrous results. A Giant (A female Giant, that is) steps down from the heavens and straight upon some beloved characters.

It takes a few lives before the survivors realize that they have to act altogether in order to succeed. Thus, what begins a lively irreverent fantasy becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.