28 August 2026
Her Majesty's
Adelaide
Opera
I should preface this review by saying that I won tickets to see this performance after completing a survey for the State Opera SA earlier in the year. The prize was a double pass to all five of the city-based main season productions for 2026, so I will have more reviews to follow as the year progresses, and will then also share a wrap-up post with my thoughts on the season overall. But for now, onto Into the Woods....
As a huge Sondheim fan, Into the Woods is a show I know inside out and of which I have seen multiple productions both filmed and live. Naturally, I can't help but compare because of that, but in general this version stood up well among them. I enjoyed the staging, and it was fun to see how the set was utilised between this show and Hansel and Gretel. The projected eye for the giant was a nice touch, as was the fun use of the mini house during the Red Riding Hood scenes. The only places I would have liked a little more from the staging were when the witch transformed (all other productions I have seen manage this instantaneously and on the same spot), as having her run off then come back on in a different outfit was rather anticlimactic and perhaps harder for the audience to understand what was happening, and again when she disappears after 'The Last Midnight'. A puff of smoke to disguise her exit would have been sufficient; seeing her just run off to the back of the stage once again lessened the impact of the moment for me. The ASO were of course superb as always. The performances from the cast were generally good too, although the standouts for me were not the leads but some of the secondary characters. In particular, I enjoyed the princes singing both renditions of 'Agony'. They hammed it up just enough without going overboard and overshadowing the lyrics. Some of the songs were performed a little slower than I have heard them done previously. Not a big thing at all and perhaps simply an interpretation choice, but it was still something I noticed. There was a brief pause in the second act to correct a technical issue, but it was handled swiftly. So, overall, a highly enjoyable production even if I felt a few tweaks to the staging could have increased the impact of certain moments. I am giving it 4.5 stars.
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