By Kate Watson - The Weekly News
If you've ever wondered what really comes after that classic fairytale ending "… and they lived happily ever after," then the Saints Alive Theatre Society production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods is a must-see show for you.
The play weaves together several well-known fairytales, including Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood and follows the stories past their typical happy endings.
"This version of these fairytales is much darker than you might expect," says the story's narrator, 19-year-old Alexander Somerville. "The first act ends on a high note, but the second act is meant to show that stories don't just end and that life goes off in other directions."
Somerville knows the play very well, since he starred as the witch in the junior version of the musical several years ago at Dartmouth's Prince Arthur Junior High. But this time around, he's happy to turn that role over to actress/singer Ann Watkins.
Watkins characterizes the witch's role as that of the catalyst for setting the other characters' wishes in motion. And in this play, fulfilled wishes come with steep price tags such as deceit, adultery and even death. But Watkins says the message of the play ultimately is a hopeful one.
"Into the Woods is a story about life and change. When anyone in life experiences these struggles it changes them, hopefully for the better … Although you may be left alone in life, or seem to be left alone through various circumstances, there is always a brighter day ahead. You just have to keep your heart open."
The music in Into the Woods has been described as complex and demanding for the performers, but director Ian Gilmour says his experienced cast is definitely up to the task.
Many of the young actors in the cast, like 20-year-old Joe Kendall, are intending to make performing their career. Kendall, who plays Rapunzel's prince, is in his third year of operatic voice studies at Dalhousie University. He says people will be entertained by the twists in the play.
"Nothing is done the way you'd expect it to be in the traditional fairytales," say Kendall. "For instance, I'm a prince who is sincere, but not charming, and my brother (Prince Charming) is charming, but not sincere. It's a play filled with opposing dualities."
k-watson@ns.sympatico.ca
