Othello Theatre Guild goes 'Into the Woods'

OTHELLO — At one point during an "Into the Woods" rehearsal last week, there were two separate conversations about giant-slaying at the same time.

Such a topic is probably par for the course when the play one puts on is "Into the Woods."

The Othello Theatre Guild puts on the critically-acclaimed 1988 musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine beginning Friday at 7 p.m. The play runs Saturday, and March 23 and March 24.

Tickets are $10 for reserved seats, $8 for adults, $6 for children. The March 23 show is dinner theater, with tickets at $50 for couples or $28 per person. Tickets are available at the Old Hotel and Fae's Books and Crafts in Othello.

The play marks the directorial debut for Othello High School English As Second Language teacher Paul Firth, who inherited his duties after the play selection had already been made when the previous director had to move for family reasons. Firth had heard of the play.

"I rented a DVD of it, watched it and the first time I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is really strange,'" Firth recalled. "It's not your classic 'Wizard of Oz' or 'Sound of Music' or anything like that. The music's fairly angular, kind of disjointed in some places, the harmonies are really contemporary. But yet it was very intriguing the first time I watched it, so I watched it again, and then I was hooked. The more you watch it, the better it gets."

Firth described the play as a conglomeration of various original Grimm's Fairy Tales.

"So you'll see Cinderella with golden slippers instead of glass slippers, that kind of thing," he explained. "The originality comes with the storyline of the baker; this is (Sondheim and Lapine's) addition to it. So we have all these intertwined, well-known fairy tales, but it's the baker and his wife who are kind of the link through all these fairy tales. It's his quest to appease the witch who takes him into the woods, and in his trek through the woods he meets all the different fairy tale characters."

The storyline is relevant for every age level, Firth said. Children can enjoy the fairy tale aspect of the PG-rated play, he reasons, while the underlying meaning is really adult.

"Themes range from issues of parenting, what's the difference between right and wrong and do the ends justify the means, these kinds of things," Firth said.

"You have the appeal to

very, very young children because you've got four different fairy tales going on," music director Corinne Field said. "But at the same time, the second act gets dark. It deals with sin, grace, forgiveness and truth — really difficult issues."

While he's a first-time director, Firth said the cast is great, including the high school's drama instructor and choir director, as well as a number of talented musicians.

"That has been a pleasure," he said. "They've saved my bacon, basically."

Because many of the 18 cast members and about seven musicians are busy, high-caliber students, it's been difficult to schedule rehearsals, Firth added.

The production received costumes from Central Washington University and the Richland Light Opera.

Twelve-year-old Janessa Reyes plays the role of Little Red Riding Hood.

"She's kind of weird, like she likes gross stuff," Reyes said of her character. "She's not very girly. She's like a tomboy and not afraid of anything, really, and very confident."

The McFarland Junior High School seventh grader enjoys meeting new people in the production, and said it's the first big part she's played in a theater production.

"It's a good play," she said. "You learn lessons in it, of what not to do. One's to listen to your mother, or your grammy because she strayed from the path and went with the wolf. Other people learn different lessons, so I guess it teaches you good lessons."

"The kids have worked really hard and of course the adults have," Field said. "We started on the music in December because Sondheim's work is really complex. Some places there's 12 voices doing 12 parts at the same time, but they have to know exactly where to come in and where to exit, so it's really difficult music. I'm proud of Othello for taking on such an ambitious project."

In rehearsing one song, Field said she started to cry.

"Sondheim's music is beautiful, he's got some gorgeous melodies," she said. "It's just powerful stuff, really good music."

Firth encourages audiences to see the play twice, because they'll have to think about it after the first show.

"It's fantastic music," Firth said. "They're familiar storylines, but come with your head. Come with your brain, because there's a lot of thinking you've got to do. It's not just a no-brainer like going to see a movie or something. It's one which really makes you think."