West Yorkshire Playhouse,Leeds[br]The puppetry alone is enough to recommend this magical take on Stephen Sondheim’s musical, but Opera North choristers are the real ace up the sleeveThe West Yorkshire Playhouse and Opera North absorb stood at either halt of the same slope for more than 25 years without ever entering into a significant collaboration. That Leeds’ flagship arts organisations absorb managed to do so now is largely down to Wagner. Opera North’s focus on its acclaimed, and stripped-back Ring Cycle has freed up the chorus up to take section in Stephen Sondheims fairytale fantasia down the road. The Wagner connection may be significant. The Ring,after all, is the sage of a battle between giants and humans arising from the theft of some enchanted gold. Into the Woods is the sage of psychological disturbance among giants and humans arising from the theft of some magic beans. There’s also something Wagnerian approximately Sondheim’s preference for interleaved motifs over individual melodies. And also, and it has to be said,in its prodigious length.
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Source: theguardian.com