For laughter and message, see ‘Woods’

D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

SALEM — Playwright and director Michael Dempsey will take us “Into t he Woods.”

He’ll be directing the Salem Community Theatre’s production of the musical that debuted in 1986.

The work combines the music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim with a script by James Lapine.

The musical mixes known and lesser-known characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales as they pursue their plans and dreams.

The main characters are a husband, who is a baker, and his wife; Jack; and, of course, Cinderella.

The four main characters want something. Cinderella wants to attend the King’s festival; Jack, who is poor and lonely, wants his cow to give milk, and the baker and his wife want to have a child.

“Their stories intertwine,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey said the musical is not dark and depressing, but it does have a message.

“We pay a price in some way or another,” Dempsey said. “Once we get what we wanted, what happens if it is not what we wanted?”

Sondheim’s work looks at the consequences of our actions that may come back to haunt us.

As the musical progresses, the characters still want more.

People, the director said, work to get the thing they want and then want more.

“It’s a very American disease,” he said.

As the musical progresses, the characters still want more.

The idea of going into the woods is a metaphor for going through life. The personal and financial upheaval going on in the world now makes the musical topical.

“The woods are here,” Dempsey said.

The production has its light moments, as well.

“There are a lot of laughs,” the director added.

The music is, “brilliant and an integral part of the production,” Dempsey added.

Dick Fawcett, the president of the theater, said that Dempsey had been recruited after the original director had to bow out. Fawcett noted that the tight economy has an impact on the theater.

Dempsey’s own work includes “Hail To The Chef,” and “Mrs. Claus Has A Gun!”

He divides his time between Ohio and New Haven, Conn., which is a 90-minute drive to New York City, where his brother, John, works in theater.

Auditions begin next week for the musical in August.