Into the Woods

Into the Woods, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park
Gratuitous Violins rating: ***1/2 out of ****

For me Into the Woods was more than a show, it was a practically 24-hour experience that I can't judge solely by what I saw onstage.

From 5:30 a.m., when I got to Central Park to stand in line for a free ticket, until the curtain call shortly after 11 that night at the Delacorte Theater, it turned out to be one of my most memorable New York City days ever.

Initially, I wasn't enthusiastic about getting up before dawn but my friend Tapeworthy assured me that it would be fun. And you know what, he was right. I couldn't have asked for a better first visit to the Public Theater's Shakespeare Sondheim in the Park.

I spent seven hours watching the park come alive on a sunny Friday morning. I was with wonderful friends I've met through theatergoing. We had breakfast and lunch delivered. I ended up with a front-row seat. And despite my obsessive worrying, not one drop of rain fell.

I'll admit that Into the Woods isn't my favorite Stephen Sondheim musical. It's about 3 hours and near the end, I was feeling the length. There's a lot going on in James Lapine's book of overlapping fairy tales - a baker and his wife, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and maybe some others I missed. I think some of the deeper meaning went by me.

This production, which originated at London's Regent's Park, uses a child narrator instead of an adult. But because I didn't know any better, I just assumed the role was supposed to be a child's. I imagined this young boy having problems at home and he's run away. He ends up lost in the woods and has this dream/nightmare that's a mishmash of stories he's been told.

I was thrilled by the magical elements: the Witch's transformation, the Giant, voiced by Glenn Close, appearing in a corner of the sky, the sprouting beanstalks. I liked the multi-tiered treehouse set designed by John Lee Beatty that blended in with the park's natural woods. Although I can see where it wouldn't be nearly as much fun if you were sitting off to the side or to the back.

I attended the third preview, so I realize that things were still jelling. But I thought Denis O'Hare and Amy Adams were sweet the Baker and his Wife. Their quest for a child was touching. Although Adams, whose film work I've loved, didn't make as big an impression onstage as I'd hoped. Donna Murphy was a great menacing presence as the Witch.

But four performances really stood out for me.

Sarah Stiles as Little Red Riding Hood and Ivan Hernandez as the Wolf were sexy and hilarious. As Cinderella, Jessie Mueller had such a gorgeous voice, especially in "No One Is Alone," that I wish she'd had a bigger role. And Gideon Glick was so endearing as Jack. I loved his "Giants in the Sky."

My favorite part of Into the Woods was simply being in Central Park at night for the first time.

I don't think I've ever seen any theatre outdoors before and it was lovely. You don't feel like you're in a crowded, concrete island of 1.6 million people but out in the woods somewhere. I always want to be transported by what I see onstage but this took it to a whole different level. (My only criticism: I wish there had been better lighting outside the theater when we left.)

Maybe if I'd spent $150 to see the show on Broadway I might feel differently. And honestly, I'm not sure there's a big Broadway audience for this unless it has a big Hollywood star. Despite the subject matter, it's not for kids. But the day was so perfect - a terrific introduction to a now 50-year-old New York City summertime tradition.

In short, it was the kind of day the late Joseph Papp, founder of the Public Theater and Shakespeare in the Park, might have had in mind when he said, "Part of the spiritual life of the city is its art."

I have thoughts, too!

It's been over a year now since I started writing Gratuitous Violins and I'm still waiting, patiently, for a publisher to stumble upon it and offer me a book deal. Sigh.

Until then, I'll live vicariously through Julie Powell, who wrote a blog about working her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It became a bestselling book and now, a movie, Julie & Julia, starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep in the title roles.

Here's the trailer. It opens Aug. 7, and I can't wait! Meryl Streep is pretty amazing.

Doubt

Be forewarned: There are spoilers in this review!

When we first see Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius in Doubt, she's patrolling the aisles of St. Nicholas Church in the Bronx on a Sunday morning in 1964, making sure all of the children are paying attention to Father Flynn's sermon. Dressed in black, her skin pale and her face pinched, she quiets the talkative ones and gives the sleepy a whack on the back of the head.

Streep is a fierce and fearsome presence throughout the entire movie, railing against ballpoint pens and poor penmanship and believes in Catholic tradition to the point where she opposes secular songs in the school's Christmas pageant.

At the same time, Philip Seymour Hoffman is a pink-faced, genial, gregarious and smiling Father Brendan Flynn, the parish priest who wants the church to be a more welcoming, friendlier place for its working class Italian and Irish flock.

The contrast between the two is stark. And it sets up a fascinating question over whom to believe when Sister Aloysius, the school principal, accuses Father Flynn of molesting a 12-year-old student. Is the priest guilty or is he a victim of a witch hunt by a nun who opposes his efforts at a more modern, approachable church?

I think part of the power of this movie version of John Patrick Shanley's Tony and Pulitzer-winning play is that you can have an endless discussion over it. There are good arguments on both sides. While other viewers may come to a different conclusion in the end, I really had no doubt. Although Doubt takes place in 1964, I couldn't help but see it through a 21st-century prism.

Incidents of sexual abuse against children by Roman Catholic priests have been well documented over the past decade. Some have gone to prison and dioceses all over the United States have paid out millions of dollars to hundreds of alleged victims of thousands of priests. From what we learn about Father Flynn over the course of the movie, he certainly seems to fit the pattern of abusive priests. I have no doubt that he was guilty.

What struck me as truly fascinating about Doubt was the cat-and-mouse game between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. She has to tread very carefully because as the priest, he has all the power in their relationship. She knows that he'll be protected by the higher-ups in the church. I suspect that when priests were abusing children, the nuns had their well-founded suspicions, especially nuns like Sister Aloysius, who seems to have eyes in the back of her head.

I never saw the play, but apparently on stage there are only four characters in Doubt: Father Flynn; Sister Aloysius; Sister James, a young nun; and the mother of Donald Miller, the school's first and only black student, whom Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of abusing. The theatre audience never sees Donald, or any children.

In filming his play Shanley, who wrote the screenplay and directs, shows us the children, in school and in church. I don't want to give too much away but for me, there were a few things that I think stacked the deck against the priest. One of those was, simply, seeing the children. Joseph Foster II plays Donald as just about the quietest, most meek and well-behaved child in the school. As the only black student, he's also the most isolated and vulnerable.

In the end, Sister Aloysius is pretty much out there on a limb with her suspicions. Viola Davis gives a powerful, compelling performance as Donald's mother. She's fearful for her son's future and mostly seems happy to have the priest looking out for him. And Amy Adams plays the young Sister James as sweet and trusting, who definitely feels aligned with Father Flynn's more modern, tolerant views.

At the beginning of Doubt, Streep's Sister Aloysius isn't a very sympathetic character but by the end, I really did respect her. She's stern and tough but she cares about those kids. No matter what she thought of Father Flynn's theology, I don't think there's any way she'd defy him over it. After all, he's a priest and nuns are taught to defer to priests.

But if she thought for an instant that a priest was hurting one of the children in her care, you better believe she'd move heaven and earth to get him out of her school.

Enchanted

The last time I saw Amy Adams in a movie she was so sweet and appealing as Ashley, the childlike and very pregnant Southerner in 2005's "Junebug." Adams received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for that role.

In Disney's "Enchanted," Adams has moved up a few notches on the social scale: she's Giselle now, a princess-in-waiting. But her character still has that same sweetness, although this time with a sense of wonder that comes from being a princess out of water. James Marsden plays Edward, her Prince Charming, with a great combination of sincerity, wit and royal entitlement. Marsden's been terrific in everything I've seen him in lately, including as teen dance show host Corny Collins in "Hairspray."

The first movie I ever remember seeing was from Disney - 1963's take on the legend of King Arthur, "The Sword in the Stone." So I was delighted that "Enchanted" starts off with a terrific animated sequence showing how Giselle met her Prince Charming. It reminded me of all those classic Disney animated movies. Eric at Man in Chair has the rundown on the references, along with all the Broadway stars, that crop up in "Enchanted."

Before Giselle and Edward can marry, she's banished by the evil queen, a perfectly nasty Susan Sarandon, to a place where there are no happy endings, which turns out to be midtown Manhattan. Giselle is rescued from a driving rainstorm by cautious, straightlaced divorce lawyer Robert Philip, played by Patrick Dempsey, who has a 6-year-old daughter, Morgan, a very sweet Rachel Covey, and a girlfriend, Nancy, a sassy Idina Menzel.

Soon, everyone is in Manhattan looking for Giselle: Edward, the queen, the queen's henchman, a very funny Timothy Spall, and one incredibly industrious chipmunk, voiced by Kevin Lima, who also directed the film. A great running gag is how they all appear in New York, one after another, through a manhole cover in Times Square.

And let me just say, the city looks especially enchanting in this movie. There are great scenes of Times Square, Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side, Columbus Circle, and an extended song-and-dance number that takes place in Central Park. (I couldn't help but think how great it'll look on stage when Disney gets around to turning "Enchanted" into a Broadway musical. I hope they get Matthew Bourne, who did the wonderful choreography for "Mary Poppins.")

"Enchanted" is a really sweet, fun, engaging movie, especially for anyone who loves romantic comedies, or Disney or New York City. I'm even thinking about picking up a copy of the score by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, which recalls classic Disney tunes.

A large part of the credit goes to Adams. For all her innocence and naivete, she's also a princess with lots of pluck, determination and a take-charge attitude. (Although I could have done with far, far fewer computer-created rodents and insects in the scene where Giselle tidies up Robert's apartment).

I'm really looking forward to a couple of Adams' upcoming roles - the film version of the Tony and Pulitzer-winning play "Doubt," and "Julie and Julia," the real-life story of a woman who wrote a blog, and then a book, about working her way through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I've read the book, by Julie Powell, and I think Adams would be perfect in the part. Meryl Streep, who's also on tap to star in "Doubt," is supposed to play Julia Child.

I do have a couple of quibbles with "Enchanted." I did kind of wonder about the explanation for what happened to Robert's wife and Morgan's mother: apparently she just left them one day. Usually in this type of movie, the mother dies tragically young, like in "Bambi." It just seems like an odd plot choice for a movie aimed at children. Plus, I found the final battle between the queen and Giselle a little jarring. The movie starts with cute and cuddly animation straight out of "Bambi" and ends with a scary sequence that looks like it could have come from "Godzilla."

Still, I have to admit that I felt like crying at the end, as Giselle teaches Robert a thing or two about the power of love. I don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing that despite the queen's assertion, New York is a place for happy endings.