FAC takes big step forward with ‘Woods’

“Into the Woods” shows that the Fine Arts Center is serious about making its theater productions every bit as good as its visual-art presentations. The first production by the Fine Arts Center Theatre Company — a recent name change from The Rep — is without a doubt the most ambitious musical theater production in the history of Colorado Springs.

And in many ways it’s also the finest, from Christopher Sheley’s amazing forest set to a cast in which member after member steps up with something memorable.

The first act of Stephen Sondheim’s 1987 musical frantically weaves together the story of a childless couple with four different fairy tales — Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. It ends with the traditional “happily after after.”

(It’s such a rousing and positive ending that a few people in a recent audience seemed to take it seriously: The house was noticeably smaller after intermission.)

Act 2 takes us into uncharted areas of the fairy tale subconscious. A vengeful giant has appeared, laying waste to the kingdom. By the tender, bittersweet ending, most of the characters have either died or been transformed.

It makes my head swell with chauvinistic pride to realize that the cast is almost entirely local. It’s led by Kelly Walters and the velvet-voiced Susan Dawn Carson as the childless baker and his wife. Walters — and I mean this as a compliment — delivers lyrics with such clarity and understanding that at times you hardly notice he’s singing.

And the interaction of this real-life married couple gives the musical its heart, from the warm “It Takes Two” to arguments that will have conflictaverse audience members cringing in their seats.

Mercedes Perez gives a powerful and exciting performance as the witch; Sally Lewis Hybl gives us a Cinderella who’s equal parts wonder and wisdom; Carmen Mock is a brash and bratty Little Red Riding Hood; Brandon Sward is dim but earnest as Jack; and as Cinderella’s Prince, Brantley Haines never lets his chin near the ground.

And that’s not all: If you’re in this cast, and your name isn’t here, it was cut for space.

Sondheim’s music is wonderful, but it’s his lyrics that propel the show. They’ve been criticized as being obvious compared with his earlier work — which they are, but that misses the point. Sondheim deliberately stays within a child’s fairy tale vocabulary, expressing complex ideas with simple language. He gets enormous emotional resonance from minor changes, as when “Children won’t listen” becomes “children will listen.”

The orchestra, conducted by Roberta Jacyshyn, is typically outstanding, and the tech work — aside from some sonic glitches on opening night — is worthy of a professional theater.

Which is all a long way of saying: “Into the Woods” is a journey you won’t regret.

details

“Into the Woods,” by The Fine Arts Center Theatre Company

When: 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, 3 p.m. Saturday and June 2, runs through June 3

Where: Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.

Tickets: $26-$30; 634-5583