Play review

Ariel Downs as Cinderella Last week Thousand Oaks High School's Department of Theatre and Music presented Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's mutant fairy tale "Into the Woods," a staging that proved to be not just a superb rendering of a difficult work but one that succeeded on every level.

Due to the mature subject matter and complex production values of most Sondheim musicals, there aren't many that can be performed by high school students. "Into the Woods," with its unconventional plot and score, is a favorite.

The production at TOHS was marred by only a few minor technical hitches (chiefly microphone malfunctions), with several performers shining in their respective parts.

The story deals with a group of fairy-tale characters whose lives inexorably intertwine but who inevitably end up living "happily ever after"- at the end of Act I.

The plot centers on a baker and his wife's yearning to have a baby. To do so, as Sondheim says in Craig Zadan's book "Sondheim & Co," they have to "go in and screw up everybody else's fairy story."

The couple is instructed by a witch that, in order to have their wish for a child granted, they must obtain the following items: "a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, a slipper as pure as gold."

Meanwhile, in the woods, Jack is on his way to market to sell his beloved cow, Milky White; Little Red Riding Hood is off to visit her grandmother; Rapunzel tends to her long yellow hair as she sings in her hidden tower; and Cinderella, wearing golden slippers, runs from the prince's ball as the clock strikes midnight.

As the baker and his wife venture into the woods, the resulting romp has the characters madly dashing about, each interfering with the other's traditional tale.

But that's only the first act. In Act II, we learn the consequences of their actions. Since many of the characters resorted to underhanded means to get their wishes granted (theft, murder, lying, etc.), they pay the price in the second act, with many of the main characters getting clubbed, stabbed or crushed in the process.

No fairy tale convention is sacred in Act II. Red Riding Hood proves to be quite the ruffian and handy with a dagger. In a scene satirizing mob rule, the characters, threatened by a vengeful giantess, even serve up the onstage narrator as a sacrifice.

In the end, everyone runs amok. Cinderella's prince cheats on her with the Baker's wife, various characters are trampled to death by the giantess, and those that are left can't agree on how to deal with the situation. Not necessarily the stuff of your average Disney musical.

The cast had much to handle in rehearsing for the show. Many of Sondheim's fuguelike songs are complex and difficult, especially "Your Fault," a five-way patter song in which the characters bounce lines off each other in an intricately rhythmic manner.

Although the entire cast was fabulous, individual performances that stood out include the resourceful and upstanding Baker (Trevor Tevel), his earnest wife (a glorious performance by Jennifer Foster), the volatile witch (Alyssa Carrillo) and an especially luminous Cinderella (Ariel Downs).

Musical moments that brought down the house included Foster's particularly moving rendition of "Moments in the Woods" and Tevel's "No More," sung after losing his wife and his home.

Fairy tales have always been filled with dark overtones. "Into the Woods" shows that we not only don't live happily ever after but we must be held accountable for the actions we take to get what we want. According to Sondheim in Zadan's book, "The show is about community responsibility. You can't just go and chop down trees and tease princes and pretend that beans are worth more than they are. Everybody has to pay for that."

Musical director Gary Fritzen capably led the orchestra, and the stage direction was handled by Joseph Donia. The set design and costumes were perfectly suited for the show, and credit should be given to Donia, Nathan Neil, Liesa Covey and Rachel Bliss Samuels for their contributions as well.