For someone who loves Into The Woods, I haven’t seen it nearly enough during its limited run at the St. James Theatre! This was my first (and last) time winning the Into The Woods digital lottery. (Last because you can only win on LuckySeat for any given show once every 60 days according to the rules. Yes I read the rules.)
I’m going to try and be as honest and open in my reviews as I can. Please note these are my personal opinions and I’m always open to discussions!
Show Name: Into The Woods
Show Type: Musical
Location: St. James Theatre, NYC
Date Seen: Tuesday, December 13, 2022
I didn’t know it ahead of time, but we had a lot of understudies on and I was so happy to see so many new faces in roles – and some (new) regulars I hadn’t had the chance to see yet. One thing I’ve loved about this production of Into The Woods is the rotating cast – you almost never know who you’ll get to see!
At this performance, we had:
Mary Kate Moore as the Baker’s Wife
Alex Joseph Grayson as Rapunzel’s Prince
Sam Simahk as Jack
Paul Kreppel as the Narrator/Mysterious Man
Lucia Spina as Cinderella’s Stepmother
I didn’t realize it at the time but this was Sam Simahk’s debut as Jack! I would never have known if Twitter didn’t alert me (shoutout to @broadwaycovers!) – because he was so flawless in the role of Jack. His love for his best friend Milky White was outstanding. I loved Sam as Jack!
This was my first time seeing Mary Kate Moore as the Baker’s Wife – I know she’s been on in the role previously, but I’m glad I had a chance to see her Baker’s Wife as she was so sweet and lovely. She plays the role subtly differently than Sara Bareilles or Stephanie J. Block do and it’s those little moments (in the woods) that make me love seeing so many different actors in these roles.
I also enjoyed Alex Joseph Grayson as Rapunzel’s Prince – I’ve seen a few actors in this role now and it never fails to amuse me. This is such a fun role and he played off of Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince so well.
Paul Kreppel as the Narrator/Mysterious Man was different from how David Patrick Kelly plays the role and again, that’s what I love about live theater – seeing what different actors bring to the same roles.
Back to our standard cast – this was my first (and last) time seeing Montego Glover as the Witch – (I had previously only seen Patina Miller at St. James Theatre production, since the two actresses played the role certain days of the week) and her Witch was wonderful. I will be honest and say I preferred Patina’s Witch, but only because I saw her more often and was more used to it – Montego played a great Witch as well.
Denee Benton is currently in the role of Cinderella until December 26th and again I am glad to have caught her performance at least once. I really loved her Cinderella, she’s probably my second favorite! With the ever rotating cast, it’s hard to catch everyone in every role but I’m glad I managed to see Denee.
Into The Woods is a show I never get tired of seeing and I hope to see it at least once more before closing night on January 8th, 2023 (which I already have tickets for). New cast coming in even still and I want to catch as many of them as possible! Into The Woods is going on tour after it closes on Broadway and I highly recommend catching a show if it’s coming to a city near you – you won’t regret it.
Have you ever seen any version of Into The Woods? What are you thoughts on it?
Frayed Books 