'Into the Woods': Fine Theatre Horizon production needs room

Sometimes I wish Theatre Horizon still performed its musicals in a high school auditorium rather than in the 120-seat space it built in Norristown. I especially longed for a different venue recently every time Kristine Fraelich (as the Witch) belted out one of the songs from Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods that Bernadette Peters made famous and that Fraelich makes no less her own here.

Instead, the tiny, odd backdrop of Maura Roche's cabinet-like set constrained Fraelich's voice like a storm thundering through a shoe box.

I wished for the same bigger venue for the fantastic ensemble, as well. James Lapine's book combines many fairy tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk. Sondheim's lyrics dart about in quick, catchy tunes and phrases before roaring through exciting choral passages.

Rachel Camp (the Baker's Wife), Michael Doherty (Jack), and Liz Filios (Cinderella) deliver endearing, engaging performances - Doherty at once amiable and dunce-like, Filios reluctant and delicate, and Camp providing just enough pragmatic innocence to mask hidden desires. The three flourish in songs about longing and consequence and anchor Lapine's dramatic passages about the perils of getting what one wants. Alex Bechtel and Ben Michael (the two dimwitted Princes) provide the bulk of the comedy, and Michael's pleasing voice captivates in his musical numbers.

Most of the production, however, felt small, buoyed only by the cast's prodigious talents. Composer Larry Lees adapted the orchestrations so many of the actors could double as musicians (sometimes on stage, sometimes in a backstage pit). Director Matthew Decker's blocking mined this double duty for a few comedic moments (aided by Lauren Perigard's clever costumes), and throughout Act II, Mike Inwood's lighting design created an eerie, cavernous space that visually, at least, doubled the size of the stage, even if it still felt too small for a giant.

As much as I enjoyed hearing familiar actors and being drawn by their voices through an evening of music I can't help but hum, the production reminded me more of a fairy tale read at a bedside rather than one that overwhelmed in reenactment. I wish I could have heard the production in a bigger space, but as Sondheim's lyrics remark, "When you know you can't have what you want, where's the profit in wishing?"

Through March 1 at Theatre Horizon, 401 DeKalb St., Norristown.

Tickets: $25-$46

Information: 610-283-2230, theatrehorizon.orgEndText