On Friday night I saw the extraordinary Into the Woods at Desert Stages Theatre. I had never seen this musical before in person, but obtained a DVD from the library of the original 1987 Broadway production starring Bernadette Peters as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason as the Baker's Wife. Since I had already seen the Broadway production just a few weeks ago, I knew I was really going to like seeing it at Desert Stages Theatre, but I did not know just how much I was going to LOVE it. Desert Stages really out did themselves with this one. Their production really even outshined the Broadway production, and that is saying a lot. They pulled off well little things like the talking Giant, and Little Red Riding Hood getting eaten by the wolf...and all very comically too.
Into the Woods has a fun and entertaining storyline, but the music is what makes this so special. All the songs are very memorable, but the two stand-out ones are "Children Will Listen," and "No One is Alone." The whole cast had incredible singing voices and gave me goose bumps when singing these beautiful songs. I'm getting goose bumps right now just writing about it...they were that sensational.
