Just on the heels of a very successful run of The Sound of Music, the three-hour production of Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award winning Into the Woods at the lushly appointed art deco Paramount Theatre is here to delight another round of theatregoers. Simply stunning and jam-packed with talent and energy, Paramount gives us another production to rave about. Upon entering the theater, the enormous set by designer Jeffrey D. Kmiec, with romantic and powerful lighting by Jose Santiago, is a spectacle to behold with its beautiful stately trees and fairy tale castle towers which dazzles the eye and ignites the audience's senses.

Into the Woods is a slightly adult version of a mashup of Brothers Grimm fairy tales that is really a metaphor for venturing out into the world and in everyday life on new paths to find happiness and love. Mixed together in this epic and humorous adventure are characters and plot lines from Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.   

Although this is clearly an ensemble piece with a large and exciting cast, the play is held together and given a continuous depth of meaning by its Narrator, played by outstanding character actor Larry Yando (he also doubles as Mysterious Man). I went to college with Yando at the Goodman/DePaul School of Drama back in 1987 and now all Chicago audiences know and love his work as Ebenezer Scrooge in Goodman Theatre’s long-running Christmas favorite, A Christmas Carol.

The production contains numerous catchy Sondheim musical numbers including its title track that opens the show along with "Our Little World", "Ever After", "No One Is Alone" and the very funny “Agony” wonderfully performed by Cinderella's Prince (Alex Syiek) and Rapunzel's Prince (Devin DeSantis) – in perhaps the one of the shows funniest scenes. Another standout for me includes outstanding vocal performances from Cinderella, played with great humor by Hannah Louise Fernandes who questions why she is "running from a Prince?” after her fairy Godmother used magic to help her attend the ball. Also, Little Red Riding Hood, played by the sardonic and ruby-lipped Lucy Panush, is adorable throughout. Panush is forever changed by her encounter with the lusty Wolf who sniffs her as if she is a tasty pastry and she recalls with misty wonder how being "swallowed by the wolf" let her fall into a deep dark place that she surprisingly found quite fascinating. 

Paramount Theatre’s Into the Woods features (from left) Stephen Schellhardt as the Baker, Will Koski as Jack, Natalie Weiss as the Witch, Hannah Louise Fernandes as Cinderella and Lucy Panush as Little Red Ridinghood. Photo by Liz Lauren.

The show is bursting with talented performances throughout and peppered with brilliant comedic and singing performances including that of Sarah Bockel as the Baker’s Wife, Will Koski as Jack and Natalie Weiss as The Witch. Its story is fun and has a twist around every corner while the extraordinary set and lighting/sound effects keep us smack dab in the middle of an enchanted world like no other.

The music throughout is impressive and big. I always love to walk down at the end of a show to see the orchestra in the pit, and this large gifted group of musicians led by Music Director/Conductor Kory Danielson are a character in their own right. And the music that comes from an orchestra of this size is something you can feel pulsing in your heart as the play takes the audience through all "the feels" from joy to loss, sensual longing to satisfaction and everything in between. 

Into the Woods has so many great characters and intertwining storylines, each with their own moral lesson, that there is something everyone can relate to at every age, whether it is the joys and disappointments that come with leaving home, reckoning with your parents’ goodness or mourning the loss of a loved one.

I highly recommend this outstanding and exciting, colorful and dramatic production for audiences between the ages of 12 to 91 (the age Sondheim passed away in 2021) who are seeking a rich, quality and satisfying night out at the theater. 

Into the Woods runs through March 19th at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Ave., in Aurora. For tickets visit paramountaurora.com or call 630-896-6666.