"These same years have offered galvanizing examples of mutual care and aid, a mode echoed in the ballad 'No One Is Alone,' which argues for support and understanding despite differences. If I were a betting woman, I would hazard that’s the aspect of 'Into the Woods' that appealed to deBessonet, the artistic director of Encores! and an artist with a long history of community engagement and activism."
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"As directed by Lear deBessonet, this is a straightforward and simple staging that emphasizes the richness of the score and script and relies on the strengths of a full orchestra and superb ensemble cast"
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"For a concert production with such a limited rehearsal period, each character is remarkably well-drawn, with every beat accounted for in Sondheim's artfully crafted songs that teach as much about life as they do about musical-theater writing."
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"What can I say about the cast except for 'wow?' Encores! has outdone itself by bringing in a stellar group of actors boasting exceptionally fine achievement in the world of theater and elsewhere."
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"Encores has traditionally been a refuge for theatergoers in search of favorite and/or unjustly neglected shows with the original music elements reasonably intact. 'Into the Woods' more than delivers."
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"We do not deserve Heather Headley. ... But never have I felt more strongly about Headley than in City Center Encores! superstar-studded production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical 'Into the Woods,' transforming the Witch into the actual heart and soul of this many-pronged story."
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"'Into the Woods,' because of its fairy tale trappings, is a crowd pleaser and is often put in a separate category apart from the intellectual masterworks that are more commonly associated with [Sondheim]. But one of the gifts of this Encores! revival is that it brings out how smart this piece of writing is."
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