"Into The Woods" by Stephen Sondheim.

NTU Drama Society 2023/2024.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

If you've never seen this musical, and if not why not and where have you been? James Lapine, who wrote the book, took several fairy tale characters and gave them all a little story within a bigger story. It's as if there was a land where fairy tale characters live and this was a day in the life of, well three days in the lives of.

The baker and his wife want a baby but the wicked witch who lives next door had put a spell on them and only agrees to lift the spell if they bring her four things belonging to some of the other fairy tale characters, and the baker has to go into the woods to collect these four things. It's the story of this search which ends with the slaying of the giant at the top of the beanstalk's wife. It has a dark edge as some of the much loved characters die in the process.

The music and lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim and he is at his best with this musical as the complexity of his lyrics and key changes may be a singer/actor, and possible musical director's nightmare but when the cast are as good as this one, the results sound so good. Listen carefully and you can hear echoes of songs from "Sweeney Todd", "A Chorus Line" and even "West Side Story".

NTU have taken on a challenge and have beat it. There was nothing that I, in my imagined Director's mind, would have changed and, complex as this musical is with Sondheim's multi layered harmonies and the timing needed by the vocalists, this cast made it look smooth as silk.

With this musical, the cast have to work as one as they weave their presentation and vocals into each character's sections, which is why timing is so important, and the cast must act as an ensemble otherwise weak links will be spotted quickly. I am pleased to say that there are no weak links at all in this show.

The Baker is played by Sammy Hoffman and has a really strong musical theatre voice, not just singing the parts, but performing the songs in a character packed performance.

The Baker's Wife is played by Kaitlyn Bilton, and again, another strong voice; well I could say that about everyone in this musical.

Jack, of The Beanstalk fame. is played by Megan Fletcher and Jack's Mum is played by Faeryn Baldwin.

Natasha Carter plays Little Red Riding Hood who gives a really nice comic performance.

Playing Little Red Riding Hood's spunky Grandmother is Lucy Reynolds, Lucy also doubles up as the voice of The Giant.

Cinderella is played another very strong vocalist, Xanthe Clay-White. I always feel like doing an invisible fist pump when Cinders tells her Prince where to get off after his dalliance in the wood. This is quite a physical role as Xanthe throws herself around; I just hope she isn't covered in bruises by the end of this short run!

Miah Straw plays Cinderella's Mother.

Cinderella's Evil Stepmother is played by Libby Cawsey, and the Stepsisters Florinda and Lucinda are played by Katarina Brennan and Natalia Kukula. There are some lovely, almost candid comedy pieces involving these three, especially after the Stepsisters were blinded by the crows.

The Evil Witch, who transforms into a rather dishy, but powerless Witch is played deliciously wicked by Ashia Erskine.

Rapunzel is played by Ruby Phillips.

The Big Bad Wolf is played by Thomas Judt, who managed to extract more than a giggle from the audience at the Wolf's initial scenes with Litte Red Riding Hood.

Thomas also plays Rapunzel's Prince and playing Cinderella's Prince is Tom Holden; their duet of "Agony" was anything but, agony that is. Thomas and Tom are a wonderful match and their voices really worked well together and there's a lovely comic chemistry going on with this pair.

The Steward, who also has some nice comic lines, is played by Eli Peters.

Stan Brown, who I am sure I've seen in something before, plays The Mysterious Man. This is another one of those characters who explode onto the stage, makes you smile and then retires to the wings until the next time.

Last, but by no means least is the role of The Narrator, played by Ed Fearn. Ed has a voice that you could listen to read the telephone directory; it's such a rich, deep voice, and there were glimpses of him being a strong comedy actor and has leading man vibes.

Directed by Brett Bernstein and Charlie Sharp, and as I said earlier on, I couldn't think of one thing that I'd change or even tweak in this production. The Direction is a strong one, and all I had to do was drink in the production as was. You would never have guessed that this was both Brett and Charlie's Directorial debut, but what a way to debut!

Choreographed by Ashia Erskine, this cast seemed to float across the stage, almost as if they were in a fairy tale.

Musical Director is David Hails, which explains why the vocals and harmonies are as exemplary as they are.

The programme doesn't state who the set design is by, and I would have liked to have credited them. The stage is split into four sections on two levels, and the scene changes were done smoothly and quickly by Stage Hands Emma Bennet, Phebe Chan and Monica Kelly, making the pace of this long show speedy. I say it's a long show; it lasts, with interval two and three quarter hours, but every minute of this show is worth every penny of the ticket price.

Lighting and sound are by another pair of experts in their field, Evie Webster - who I finally got chance to say "hello" to afterwards, a joy to finally meet you, Evie - and George Wilson.

The sound was great, at times it could have been notched up another one, but as I was saying to Evie, the techies never get long enough to get everything the way that they want it to be, but I really have nothing to moan about in this area. The sound effects were timed to perfection.

The lighting was also timed perfectly and there was some visually exciting lighting designs, especially highlighting - pun intended - the Giant's footsteps. Combining this lighting effects with the theatre shaking sounds of the steps, left you under no illusions that the monstrous Giant was just around the corner, somewhere in Hockley!

Costumes, which were of the same standards as everything else I've mentioned above, were designed by Sabina Huxley. A lovely modern take on Sondheim's character costumes, which could be why this production felt as fresh as the first time that I saw it.

"Into the Woods" is at the Nottingham Arts Theatre until Saturday 11 May.