It is very, very scary in Stephen Sondheim's woods when, just at the point when it seems that everyone has achieved their happy ever afters, the real story begins. Entirely unsuitable for the very young or the very Jung, this 1987 musical fairytale for adults has a strong dose of grim as well as Grimm. But Karen Louise Hebden - no stranger to Sondheim, with a well-received production of Company at this address under her belt - offers guidance through the dark woods, ensuring that the journey is very enjoyable and that you never stray from the path, even if the path sometimes seems to be straying from you. James Lapine's clever book takes all of those old familiar tales, gives them a good shake and then throws them up in the air so that the audience experiences a little of the same dislocating sense of being lost as the characters.
At first all seems well in fairyland, as the baker and his wife go on their quest to find items such as Red Riding Hood's cape and Rapunzel's hair, and so break the curse of the witch and win themselves a much longed-for child. All goes according to folklore as Jack swaps his cow for magic beans and climbs the beanstalk, and Cinderella finds her prince. But the actions of the first half become the consequences of the second in a show that, in typical Sondheim fashion, may not have big hummable tunes but has plenty of hummable themes: personal and collective responsibility; what we teach our children; the need to grow, mature and face the world as adults, not over-grown children.
Women get a bit of a raw deal in Sondheim's world, paying a high price for perverted mother love or unfaithfulness, but Hebden's production stays closer to the bogeymen of the nursery than penetrating the dark Freudian forests of the mind. The woodcut-style designs may not always capture the bitter sophistication of a show where depression and madness claim Rapunzel, death claims the baker's wife, and the prince loses interest in his Cinderella, but it is staged and sung with real panache. You can't help but cheer to find a regional rep staging a big, difficult show like this with so much swagger and confidence, and in a strong cast Annette McLaughlin, as the Baker's Wife who strays from the marital bed in the deceitful forest, is quite exceptional.
· Until May 20. Box office: 01332 363275.
