I cannot recall a more visually striking production at Union Avenue Opera than the current staging of Into the Woods.

The musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is based on four well known fairy tales—Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk (but not always on the best-known versions of these tales.) Lapine’s book weaves these stories together along with an original story about a baker and his wife who are trying to undo a witch’s curse that prevents them from having children.

Act One has a happy ending, but the characters do not live happily ever after. In Act Two, they face a mortal danger. The ones who survive can never go back to living a fairy tale. When the show opened on Broadway, this ending was controversial, but the enduring popularity of Into the Woods suggests that change of tone in the second act has resonated with audiences.

Laura Skroska’s imposing, evocative set includes well-defined areas for all the locations called for in the script, both in and out of the woods. The scenic design incorporates the entire width of the auditorium, including the balcony. Rapunzel’s tower is on one side of the balcony; the beanstalk and the giant’s realm are on the other.

The set’s flexibility is exploited in Jennifer Wintzer’s stage direction, Hannah Browning’s choreography, and Jack Kalan’s fight choreography. Wintzer’s handsome stage pictures are enhanced by Patrick Huber’s lighting, which furnishes helpful effects for scenes in which the giant is heard from offstage. Teresa Doggett provides the giant’s voice as well as well as the opulent costumes for the fairy tale characters. Properties designer Jacob Kujath is the puppeteer for Cinderella’s bird friends and Jack’s beloved cow, Milky White.

With more players than I often hear in this work, the orchestra produces a fine account of the score under Scott Schoonover’s knowing direction. As in Union Avenue’s previous musicals, the performers are not amplified. The advantage of this approach is that operatic voices reveal more beauty in the music than I have heard before—notably in the songs for Jack and Little Red Ridinghood.

The disadvantage is that I missed the volume and clarity that come with miking. Fortunately, Union Avenue’s supertitles, designed by Philip Touchette, include the all the dialogue as well as the lyrics. The supertitles are now easier to read at the start of the performance than they were earlier in the season, when the sun was setting well after 8 p.m.

Union Avenue has assembled a first-rate cast whose members sing beautifully and act their parts in an appropriate style for fairy tales. The performers include:

• Taylor-Alexis DePont as the witch
• Brandon Bell as the baker
• Leann Schuering as the baker’s wife
• Brooklyn Snow as Cinderella
• Debra Hillabrand as Cinderella’s stepmother
• Gina Malone as Cinderella’s stepsister Florinda and Granny
• Rebecca Hatlelid as Cinderella’s stepsister Lucinda
• Matthew Greenblatt as Cinderella’s Prince
• Philip Touchette as Cinderella’s Prince’s steward and Cinderella’s father
• Cameron Tyler as Jack
• Stephanie Tennill as Jack’s mother
• Laura Corina Sanders as Little Red Ridinghood
• Eric McConnell as the wolf
• Lauren Nash Silberstein as Rapunzel and Cinderella’s mother
• James Stevens as Rapunzel’s Prince
• Christopher Hickey as the narrator and the mysterious man

Into the Woods concludes its run at 8 p.m. on August 23 and 24 at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 North Union Boulevard.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo © Dan Donovan Photography
From the left, Laura Corina Sanders as Little Red Riding Hood and Eric J. McConnell as the wolf in Into the Woods.