Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Into the Woods’ opens in Tampa

You may have seen “Into the Woods” before, but chances are you’ve never seen it like this.

The acclaimed and popular musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine, is written for a large ensemble cast — the Broadway version had a cast of 28, the film version 20 — and it’s usually staged with extravagant sets.

The new national touring production, which opens Tuesday at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, is much smaller.

“There are only 11 actors on stage, including our accompanist.” said Laurie Veldheer, who plays Cinderella in the production. “Almost everybody plays multiple roles. We have sets and costumes, and they’re gorgeous, but they’re minimal.”

Veldheer was speaking from the Jacksonville area, where the new tour of “Into the Woods” was just getting started. After a week of technical rehearsals and one public performance. “Into the Woods” comes to Tampa for eight performances.

“Into the Woods” premiered in 1988, and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score. The 2002 Broadway staging won the Tony for Best Revival, and the 2014 film with a star-filled cast (Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Johnny Depp and many others) was a critical and commercial success.

The touring production has its roots in an acclaimed 2015 staging at New York’s Roundabout Theater. A company called the Fiasco Theater Company had reimagined the hit musical, adapting it to its own style, with actors who are also musicians accompanying themselves and each other.

“They’re all musicians, and they play their own instruments on stage,” Veldheer said. “They do a lot Shakespeare. So they thought ‘What can we do that’s the most like Shakespeare?’ And their minds immediately went to Sondheim.”

It’s becoming a bit of a trend, according to Broadway veteran Veldheer, for musical to be staged with no orchestra and actors who play their own instruments. (“Once” is the most obvious example, but there area couple of others in New York.)

The story of “Into the Woods” weaves together fairy tales written by the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. The binding for the disparate tales is a story about a baker and his wife. They’re childless but they want to start a family. A witch has placed a curse on them, and their quest to overcome the curse leads them to interactions with Cinderella, Jack (of beanstalk fame), Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Hansel and Gretel, among others.

Sondheim and Lapine don’t just string together the fairy tales, though. They delve into the characters’ motivations and the consequences of their actions.

“It’s not just Cinderella and Little Red,” Veldheer said. “It’s the stories behind those people.”

It’s written to be performed with a narrator but in the pared-down touring production that role is eliminated, and all the characters tell their own stories.

“There’s no fourth wall,” Veldheer said. “We basically ask the audience to be part of the show. With a really good piece of theater, you can imagine it in all sorts of different ways. The audience in our production is such an integral part of the story.”

The plot of “Into the Woods” is grounded in children’s stories, and Sondheim’s music for the show is catchier than that of a lot of his shows. But it’s not a kids’ show by any means, and even though there’s nothing particularly objectionable about it, parents may want to do some research before they decide to bring their kids to see it. (The Straz Center’s website advises that “Into the Woods” contains mild adult themes.

Veldheer, though, thinks everyone ought to be able to enjoy “Into the Woods,” and especially this production. The minimalist staging, she says, doesn’t detract from the elegance of the musical. It may even enhance it

“The kids can relate, and adults can think back,” she said. “It’s just such a beautiful telling of this story.”

Details: Nov. 29-Dec. 4, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $39-$88, plus service charge and up. 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Into the Woods’ opens in Tampa."