Peter Viney's Blog

Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine

Directed by James Fein

Set and costume by Tom Scutt

Musical director Mark Aspinall

The Bridge Theatre, Southwark, London

9th March 2026, 19.30

CAST

Valda Aviks- Grandmother / Giant
Geoffrey Aymer- Cinderella’s father
Katie Brayben – Baker’s wife
Bella Brown – Rapunzel
Churmisa Dornford- May- Cinderella
Kate Fleetwood – Witch – Jennifer Hepburn, understudy
Jo Foster- Jack
Michael Gould- Narraror /Mysterious Man
Jennifer Hepburn – Cinderella’s stepmother – Sophie Liner-Lee, understudy
Hana Ichigo- Lucinda
Julie Jupp- Jack’s mother
Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson – Florinda
Gracie McGonigal- LittleRed Riding Hood
Hughie O’Donnell- Steward
Jamie Parker- Baker
Oliver Savile – Cinderella’s Prince / Wolf
Rhys Whitfield-Rapunzel’s prince
STANDBY:
Sophie Liner-Lee
Taite Elliot-Drew
Jacon Fowler
Chloe Sarraco

Sondheim’s 1986 mash-up of Grimms Brothers fairy tales became a Disney epic in 2014 with an all-star cast of Meryl Streep, James Corden, Emily Blunt,Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Tracey Ullman and Chris Pine.

We hadn’t seen the DVD, and we didn’t know the songs. We were in a relaxed, positive and cheerful mood, and mood affects reviews strongly. After all the five star reviews we were excited to be there.

The Grimm’s references are little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and The Beanstalk and Cinderella. I was expecting Hansel and Gretel as they go into the woods, but no. In the second part, the princes briefly reference Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Princes territory.

In this the narrator (Michael Gould) is in modern dress. The central characters are the Baker and the Baker’s wife. They want to have a baby and the witch will only help them if they can get her the red riding hood, Jack’s milk white cow, Rapunzel’s golden hair and Cinderella’s golden shoe.

The Witch had been praised for Kate Fleetwood’s performance. We’ve seen her before and wanted to see her again. We had an understudy tonight. Jennifer Hepburn was so good you would never have known, but forgive my cynicism for saying, ‘Monday. Let the star have a second day off and give the understudies a run.’ With this quality of understudies, I’m sure we lost nothing.

This is the view from my seat, R27. Have you ever seen a theatre put the lighting board in a corner with three rows of seats staring down onto it? There was a black shield. You can see it at the bottom. I was seated, not standing, to take the photo. I crouched down to try and block out the board, but then the lighting guy appeared in front of me. It’s a very busy plot (and a brilliant plot too) so he had to move around a lot. His head, neck up, was in front of me was jigging about throughout. The tablet on the board stuck well into my view. This is a really stupid place to put a lighting board and if someone has decided to do so, then you cannot sell the seats behind it at full price. I felt ripped off. What you do is say, ‘These seats have an interrupted view. On sale to bona fide students at £10.’

So I was negative. I couldn’t concentrate properly watching that jigging head, and it persisted for nearly an hour, so I did not enjoy it. It took too long to get past the distraction.

It is strange watching a play with a five star set, five star costume, five star lighting and sound, five star singing and acting performances and a superb pit orchestra and say that you didn’t enjoy it. But Karen didn’t like it much either, even though her height meant the screen worked.

Most of the problem is Sondheim. Partly that’s us not knowing any of the songs. Many were met with rapturous applause, but we were like the first night of a musical run, with every song unfamiliar. I prefer musicals to have drama and dialogue separately, then cut to a song that reflects on the story. I generally have a problem when sung lyrics are carrying virtually the whole story, which is why I do not like opera. It’s about the only music genre I don’t like. I reckon Sondheim starts with lyric and then weaves a (any?) melody to carry it. The arrangements are intricate and the instrumental passages from the orchestra were impressive and fascinating. The songs? Lyrics in search of a melody in part one. Mainly failing to find one. The two princes, Cinderella’s prince and Rapunzel’s prince shone on their duet on Agony, reprised in the second half. There were no ear worms, which is unusual for me.

Jamie Parker as the baker, and Katie Brayben as the baker’s wife both shone vocally and in acting. They’re the frame story on the quest to find the four items which will restore the witch to youth and beauty. That story is completed in the first half, the stepsisters are blinded, the wolf is dead, Primce Charming has found Cinderella, the wolf has been skinned, Jack has the hen, the golden egg and the golden harp, the witch is restored to beauty, and the interval felt like the end.

Then the second part riffs further on the tales. The baker and wife now have their baby, Cinderella is disaffected with Prince Charming. Red Riding Hood has her wolfskin cape and is stroppy. Jack (Jo Foster) looked like a boy in the first part but looks distinctly female in the second part. This is 2026 London. We need a trans character. Actually, Jack has the gold and the golden egg and harp so is now rich and has been to the hairstylist for a neat page boy cut.

Jack is the cause of all the fuss, because he hacked down the beanstalk and the giant fell and was killed, Now the giant’s wife is stalking the woods stamping on cottages and castles. The giant is a triumph of sound effects shaking the theatre. The trees (which look uncannily like my Mac Sequoia screen saver) change to chopped halfway down and fallen. Trouble is, the giant wants Jack delivered to her, to punish him for her husband’s death. Are the others going to hand him over? Or will the fairy tale characters stick together?

Prince Charming is roaming the woods on the pull. His eyes are set on Sleeping Beauty, but he finds and seduces the baker’s wife, A very well done scene that is too.

Critics said it was very funny. People around us were roaring with laughter. It felt weird to me. I thought the two princes (Oliver Savile and Rhys Whirfield) were funny. I thought the replacement of the red riding hood with a wolfskin cape, and granny with a knife having slaughtered the wolf was funny.

Not much else. I did remember the line from Prince Charming, ‘I’m supposed to be Charming, not sincere.’

Were the melodies better in part two, or did I just get used to it? The Witch’s Last Midnight was above the run of songs. The Baker’s last song No More was outstanding but part of that was its very strong relationship to Sondheim’s greatest hit, Send In The Clowns.

Standing ovation. I stood up with relief with everyone else because the front row seats in row R trap your legs and I was desperate to stand up. So I too was charming, but not sincere. We will watch the DVD and now we have an inkling of the songs.

OVERALL: Three star ***

The programme. After some cast members they put (he / him) or (she / her). I think I have worked out how to address a Michael or a Jennifer. The exception is Jo Foster playing Jack, who wants to be known as (they / them). About half the cast eschew the bracketed pronouns. Quite right too. So if half don’t want it, why bother? I’m calling Jack ‘he’ because that’s the part and his mother describes him as ‘my son’, so I assume ‘they’ refers to the actor, not the role.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

five star
Clive Davis, The Times *****
Sarah Hemming, Financial Times *****
Sarah Crompton, What’s On Stage *****
Andrzej Lukowski – Time Out *****

four star
Arifa Akbar, Guardian ****
Domenic Cavendiah, The Telegraph ****
Nick Curtis, The Standard ****
Louis Chilton, The Independent ****
Fiona Mountford, The i, ****
Gary Naylor The Arts Desk ****

three star
Sam Marlowe, The Stage ***

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Assassins, Chichester 2023
Follies, National Theatre 2019
West Side Story, 2021 film
Into The Woods, Bridge Theatre 2026

JAMIE PARKER
Candida, Bath 2013

KATE FLEETWOOD Understudied
A View From The Bridge, Theatre Royal 2024
King Lear, National Theatre 2014(Goneril)
Absolute Hell, by Rodney Ackland National Theatre 2018

MICHAEL GOULD
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Young Vic 2017
A View From The Bridge, Young Vic 2014

GEOFFREY AYMER
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Young Vic 2017
Hamlet, Chichester 2025
Jitney by August Wilson, Bath 2022

GRACIE McGONICAL
The Crucible, NT 2022

BELLA BROWN
Rock Follies, Chichester 2023

KATIE BRAYBEN
King Charles III 2014

VALDA AVIKS
Funny Girl, Menier 2016
Once, 2013