INTO THE WOODS Noel Coward Theatre WC1

This is the marvellous production from the Bridge Theatre, and I append my oroginal review below. But it’s worth recording how wonderful a second viewing is, in the rowdier, sometimes newer to it, West End. The audience around us felr different, less faithfulky Sondheimite perhaps, and a lot wuite young. So today I will just add things I maybe didn’t make enough of: how funny the two princes are, how important and centring the presence of Michael S Seigal as narrator, the adult who tells the story but needs to learn the lesson, and what a glorious presence, cheeky and fed-up and determined, is Gracie McGonigal’s Red Riding Hood. And how gleefully, happily ‘hefted’ the enormous cast feel. It is really beautiful. I shall go again… Original review holds: five mice, obvs! “The woods are lovely, dark and deep…” – They certainly are when designed by Tom Scutt . And Jordan Fein’s glorious new production will, I think, convert many a Sondheim-sceptic to go deeper into his ironic brilliant…