A Peek Behind the Curtain - Part 6

“Into The Woods”

by Stephen Sondheim

Produced by Circle Ensemble Theatre and Co-sponsored by the Morton Theatre Corporation

July 12th and 13th at 7:30 pm and July 13th at 2 pm

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Part 6

            When Hollywood first started making movies, people believed that it spelled the beginning of the end of the theatre.  It’s cheaper than a night out and, if the movie’s bad, you can make out with your girlfriend in the dark.  Many were sure that movies would surely replace live performance.  They were wrong.  When television first came about, they were sure that the theatre was dead.  People can watch miniature plays in the comfort of their own living rooms.  They don’t have to wear fancy gowns and tuxedos to empathize with a drama or laugh with a comedy.  They don’t have to wear clothes at all.  They can dress like Andy Griffith or wear roller skates, clown makeup, and pants made of bologna.  Surely this lax dress code and convenience will mean that no one will want to attend theatrical performances.  They were wrong again.  The people who make predictions like these simply do not understand magic.  They are baffled by a few simple human truths.  People need people.  People want to be around people.  People also want to be moved, to be inspired, to be impressed.  People want to experience the moment.

            The record didn’t replace live music.  Instead it allowed listeners to become familiar with the music before the show and to relive the special moment of seeing the show long after the roadies have packed up and the band has moved on.  This is doubly true for musical theatre.  Listening to a cast recording of a show you attended allows you to remember a beautiful moment, a night where you dressed to impress, where you met friends at a café for après-show cocktails and finger foods, a night where you entered an historic building, walked through ornate and hallowed doors, followed polite and timeless custom, found your seat among other travelers in search of inspiration, browsed your playbill for an outline of what was to come, felt a slight tingle when the house lights darkened, and were able to experience, even if only for a moment, one of those emotions we all search for in various ways but only find in a few special places, a few times, in our lives, awe.

            “Into the Woods” is awesome.  I know that awesome is a word more associated with tattooed skateboarding teenagers with five-word vocabularies listening to some death-metal German guy screaming incoherently into a microphone about torturing cats  than it is with the theatre, but it shouldn’t be.  Awesome means “inspiring awe.”  We need to take the word back and apply its original intent to its current usage.  “Into the Woods” inspires awe.  I know that I’ve used this term waaaaaayyy tooooooo muuuuucccccchhh in these blogs, but it’s true.  Being a small part of this experience has inspired awe in me.  So, I’m a’gonna say it a few more times.

            I’m in awe of all of it. 

            I’m in awe of Circle Ensemble Theatre Company’s ambitious choice of doing this complicated show in the first place. 

            I’m in awe of the various individual aspects of the show all coming together in six weeks’ time to create something magical, something that will cause you to rethink familiar fairy tale stories.

            I’m in awe of the music.  Circle has assembled a gracious volunteer pit orchestra.  The Morton has an orchestra pit.  On July 12th and 13th you will get to hear an orchestra of talented Athens musicians who usually play around in other genres of music get together and provide the bean-layer of the casserole (the actors are the meat, the crew is the cheese, the director is the spicy guacamole, and I’m the sour cream) of this zesty dish/worst analogy ever. 

            I’ve got to go and watch yet another rehearsal, so I’ll wrap it up with some simple advice:

SEE THIS SHOW

MORTON THEATRE

JULY 12TH AND 13TH

YOU’LL LEAVE SINGING

YOU’LL LEAVE IN AWE