Union Avenue Opera's "Into the Woods" tries to spin James Lapine's straw into gold

I’m not sure exactly when opera companies began folding musicals into their seasons. Lyric Opera of Chicago has doing so since around 2013, as have some European companies, but the trend has only recently made its way to St. Louis.

Union Avenue Opera (UAO) has been at the vanguard of that trend. Their current production of Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” their fifth foray into Broadway territory since 2013, has a lot going for it, including strong performances in the leading roles. But compared with the rest of the company’s current season it felt like a bit of a letdown.

The company Photo: Dan Donovan

Blame James Lapine’s book for most of that. The basic concept is cleverly subversive, combing the plots of multiple fairy tales (mostly the Brothers Grimm versions), in a way that explores the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. That should have been an ideal project for Sondheim and Lapine, but I have yet to see it work in practice. The change in tone from the mostly light first act to the increasingly dark second is shaky, and the story line loses its way in the woods along with the characters. They all make bad choices (often for no discernable reason), some of them get killed, and then everyone comes back on stage for “Children Will Listen”—a beautifully ambiguous song that feels only tangentially connected to the narrative.

For those of you who have never seen “Into the Woods,” the capsule version goes like this.

L-R: Leann Schuering, Brandon Bell Photo: Dan Donovan

The main characters are Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of beanstalk fame), Rapunzel, and Cinderella. There’s also a pair of handsome princes and the usual fairy tale villains—a hungry wolf, a wicked stepmother, ugly stepsisters, and of course a witch. Linking them all is the quest of a childless baker and his wife to have a child and their conflict with a witch who has placed a curse on them. They all have to go “into the woods” (always a risky place in fairy tales) to get what they want, after which they live happily ever after. Until the second act, when they learn that they’re not “out of the woods” quite yet.

Ultimately, Sondheim and Lapine’s “Into the Woods” is a collection of remarkable set pieces, ingenious lyrics that are sometimes too clever for their own good, and thought-provoking ideas that never fully coalesce into a coherent whole.

Brooklyn Snow Photo: Dan Donovan

The Union Avenue production comes as close to making sense of it all as is humanly possible, for which many thanks.

Vocally and dramatically the large cast ranges from good to outstanding. Baritone Brandon Bell makes a propitious UAO debut in the emotionally demanding role of The Baker. Soprano Leann Schuering, a sparkling Charlotte in UAOs “A Little Night Music,” brings a nice combination of vocal clarity and emotional warmth to the part of The Baker’s Wife.

Soprano Brooklyn Snow, who has been impressing UAO audiences since her debut in “Candide” in 2019, once again nails it as Cinderella. Soprano Laura Corina Sanders is an irresistibly bratty Little Red Ridinghood [sic]. And bass-baritone Eric McConnell turns in yet another (ahem) killer performance as the Wolf. His “Hello, Little Girl” is the ne plus ultra in creepy carnality.

Alexis Taylor- Dupont Photo: Dan Donovan

The role of the Witch has always been this show’s Star Turn (Bernadette Peters was the Broadway original) and gets an appropriately stellar performance from mezzo Taylor-Alexis Dupont. I would have welcomed a bit more punch in her big “eleven o’clock number” “Last Midnight,” but that’s just a “quibble quaint,” as W. S. Gilbert wrote.

Christopher Hickey is bemused and amusing as the Narrator and the Mysterious Man (who, in a typical fairytale coincidence, is also Jack’s father), and does well by the transition from ironic narrator to rueful participant. Tenors Matthew Greenblatt and James Stevens are in excellent vocal form and are wonderfully clueless as the two princes.

The rest of the cast fills in multiple roles quite handily. My apologies for all of those I haven’t mentioned. All of you are doing a splendid job with challenging material.

L-R: Laura Corina Sanders, Eric McConnell Photo: Dan Donovan

Hannah Browning’s choreography is simple but effective. Jennifer Wintzer’s stage direction keeps everything moving and she creates decent stage pictures, but relies a bit too much on physical comedy, particularly with the two princes. That’s the kind of heavy-handed approach I associate with student productions rather than with a professional company like UAO.

The orchestra sounds excellent as usual under the reliable baton of UAO Founding Artistic Director Scott Schoonover. Jonathan Tunick’s orchestration of Sondheim’s score is something of a sonic kaleidoscope that demands the kind of precision it gets here.

Laura Skroska’s sets and Teresa Doggett’s costumes give the show a fanciful and ominous look (lots of dark colors in those woods) that serves the music and book well, as do Philip Touchette’s supertitles. Indeed, they are downright essential since Sondheim’s rather over-complex lyrics move at a fast pace and the Union Avenue acoustics make them difficult to hear.

Unlike “A Little Night Music,” Union Avenue’s previous venture into Sondheim territory, “Into the Woods” is a piece that impresses more often than it entertains. I have always admired it but have yet to see anyone make it work on the stage. UAO gives it their best, though, and that’s always worth seeing.

Concluding performances of Union Avenue Opera’s “Into the Woods” are Friday and Saturday, August 23 and 24, at the Union Avenue Christian Church in the Central West End. For more information: unionavenueopera.org.