Theater review: 'Into the Woods' at Big Art Labs

Talk about a fairy tale: “General Hospital” supercouple Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) were a Harlequin Romance on steroids. Now Geary finds equally fractured enchantment as the Narrator of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods,” currently receiving a fluid, stripped-down staging from Lucid by Proxy.

Come for the play, stay for the rave. “Woods” runs in the sprawling Big Art Labs multi-use complex downtown, and it’s fun to see this gleek classic in an industrial setting.

Dominating the cavernous warehouse, Jeanine A. Nicholas’s massive square stage works as a Grand Central platform for Grimm’s tales to collide: Attempting to break an infertility spell, a baker (David Pevsner) and his wife (Valerie Rachelle) give Jack (Michael Uribes) the magic beans that bring on that beanstalk and deadly giant. Their quest also leads them to sugar punk Little Red Ridinghood (Shannon Nelson) and edgy Cinderella (Jennifer Malenke), heroines too human for mere happily-ever-afters.

Director Calvin Remsberg marshals the show’s shifting moods and traffic patterns with grace, but leaves certain cast members, among them Josie Yount’s Rapunzel, stranded in shrill, one-note characterizations. In a space this size, broad doesn’t play well (a trick Geary always knew about soap opera).

Musical director Richard Berent plays piano and computerized orchestral cues, an effective delivery system given the challenging acoustics. The space eats some of the singing, but droll princes David Nett and Zachary Ford nail the witty “Agony,” and Jessica Pennington’s go-go-booted Witch delivers the goods for the chilling “Last Midnight.” Lucid’s cheerful minimalism does expose the longueurs of Lapine’s book, which overworks theme and character without deepening them. Grimm’s intrepid crew deserves more for their three-hour forest tour.

-- Charlotte Stoudt

“Into the Woods” Big Art Labs, 651 Clover Street, Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Ends Nov. 20. $30. Contact: 800-838-3006 or www.lucidbyproxy.com Running time: 3 hours. 

Photo: David Nett as the Wolf and Shannon Nelson as Little Red Ridinghood in 'Into the Woods' at Big Art Labs. Credit: Tris Beezley.

Comments

[ArtsBeatLA]

Fair review. I agree -- this show would be kid-friendly if it didn’t clock in at close to three hours, somewhat tortured by the almost superfluous (though psychologically darker) sluggish Act 2.

[sus]

Really wish you would have stuck to review of the play, something you had seen in it's entirey; because your assesment of Mr. Geary and Ms. Francis' work on General Hospital is way off. Perhaps Luke and Laura were some of what you say.. however they were also a Greek Tragedy without the Zoloft, and a Thriller on speed. Some of the best performances two actors ever gave an audience... in any genre! Too bad the one they dedicated their careers to doesn't get enough respect.

[Virginia Kunken]

I have not seen this play, but I sure have seen Mr. Geary. This brilliant actor has turned in some of the most memorable performances I have ever seen. He has won 5 Emmy awards for performances on "General Hospital" that were very richly deserved. It does not serve any useful purpose for you to diminish his work or the work of Genie Francis by calling it a harlequin romance on steroids. Obviously, you have never seen this amazing pair at work. Geary and Francis have created one of the most popular couples in all of fiction. They are beloved by millions of people and deserve the respect of a critic like you. What a shame you did not review the two of them in their roles as Luke and Laura. That review would have been glowing.