Into the Woods
Creator: Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine
Director: Daniel Walsh
Music Director: Dom Serov
PACT Theatre, Erskineville
August 14 – August 22, 2026
Sondheim’s much-awarded and frequently produced musical is a great favourite with theatre practitioners, not least for the variety of challenging opportunities it provides for cast, crew and musicians.
Drawn from a mash-up of well-known Grimm’s fairy tales, all the usual suspects are there: Little Red Riding Hood, Jack of Beanstalk fame, Rapunzel, Cinderella and several others. Their respective narratives are familiar enough for us to know the ultimate goals of these characters, but what happens if they variously meet in the woods, influence each other or are diverted from their original intentions? In true fairy tale tradition, fantastical events happen, some happy, others somewhat darker.
The narrative is set in motion by the Baker and his Wife who are unable to begin a family because they have been cursed by the Witch, who resents a past misdemeanour by the Baker’s father. The Baker sets off into the woods to collect the spell-lifting items the Witch demands, so encountering all the protagonists, who, at a dizzying pace, entwine their fates, sometimes following the usual script, sometimes veering off in ways both disconcerting and intriguing.
All the surprises happen in Act 2: Cinderella is bored with her new life; Jack, having slayed the Giant, now has his Giantess wife after his blood; the two princes (having married Rapunzel and Cinderella) confess their attraction to two new women, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty; some family ghosts return to advise the living and even Jack’s skeletal cow comes back to life. The breathless plot changes and development, while hilariously entertaining, demands close concentration from the audience to keep abreast of events.
As a community theatre, CODA provides an excellent level of performance. The songs throughout illustrate Sondheim’s tremendous ability to meld melody and lyrics that allow each actor plenty of material with which to mould their character, and the ability of the cast of twenty to rise to the vocal challenges of the work is impressive.
The audience will recognise some of the costuming (Rob Dawson) from Disney films: Snow White, the princes are recognisable, while others glory in being wildly imaginative.
Set designer (Kathryn Smith) envisaged the set as being like story book illustrations. She achieves this with strong colours and rustic props like wooden paling fencing and lavishly flowering window boxes. Canvases with fantasy-style trees set about the stage further extend the forest-like feeling.
Deserving of mention too, is the very able orchestra of twelve under the direction of Dom Serov, which somehow gives the impression of being a much larger one, adding immensely to the character and atmosphere of a production CODA can rightly be proud of.
