FEAST OF STEPHEN

A lavish London revival of Sondheim's 'Into the Woods' plays to the fairytale musical's strengths

- Louis Chilton

The Bridge Theatre, London There’s a sly modesty to the opening number of the Bridge Theatre’s new revival of Into the Woods. Choreographed around a raised rectangular platform, the pinballing scene-setter is as lively and slick as you’d hope, but the staging is almost dispiritingly sparse. The towering 1986 classic by musical theatre’s late genius Stephen Sondheim feels here almost bewilderingly small. And then, the backdrop lifts, and the stage expands. And keeps expanding. It’s a breathtaking Dorothy-in-technicolour sort of flourish: by the time we get a full view of the lavish woodland set, it’s clear that spectacle was never going to be an issue.

In its first act,