Houston's Theatre Under the Stars produces Into the Woods, the popular Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical Dec. 4-16 at the Arena Theatre. Leslie Uggams stars as the Witch.
Uggams was a 2001 Tony nominee for her role in King Hedley II. She made her Broadway debut in (and won a Tony Award for) Hallelujah, Baby! and then went on to appear in Blues in the Night, Jerry's Girls and Anything Goes. Other credits include ten records, an Emmy-nominated appearances in "Roots" and TV hosting gigs with "The Leslie Uggams Show" and "Fantasy," for which she won the Emmy.
Joining Uggams in the cast are Lenny Wolpe (Baker), Mary Gordon Murray (Baker's Wife), Kim Huber (Cinderella), Tracy Palladini (Red Riding Hood), Deanna Julian (Rapunzel), Christopher Carl (Cinderella's Prince/Wolf), Daniel Frank Kelley (Jack), Gina Farrell (Jack's Mother), Bill McCauley (Narrator/Mysterious Man), Jeff Barnett (Rapunzel's Prince), Danielle Pratt and Doris Davis (Cinderella's stepsisters Lucinda and Florinda), Carol Swarbrick (Cinderella's Stepmother), Kathy Knight (Cinderella's Mother), James Shaffer (Cinderella's Father) and Joel Sandel (the Steward).
Glenn Casale directs. Casale recently directed TUTS' 1776, as well as regional productions of Sondheim's Company, Anyone Can Whistle and Sunday in the Park with George.
Billed as a family show, Into the Woods twists popular fairy tales, infusing them with an adult sense of what happens after the "Happily Ever After." Jack's murder of the giant (of beanstalk fame) provokes the wrath of his giant wife, Cinderella's prince is a hopeless philanderer, the witch is not wicked but overprotective, and a slightly psychotic Little Red Riding Hood proudly wears the grey skin of the wolf she cut up from the inside out. The score is one of Sondheim's most popular, with the comic and manic "Into the Woods," "Agony" and "On the Steps of the Palace" contrasting with the dramatic and wondering "Children Will Listen" and "Giants in the Sky." Tickets are $18-$57. For reservations, call (800) 678-5440. Theatre Under the Stars is on the web at http://www.tuts.com.
