[NEohioPAL] founding Associate Editor David Wirthwein of "The Sondheim Review" Magazine comments on FPAC's INTO THE WOODS

[Fred Sternfeld]

*Only one more weekend (Friday @ 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday @ 2:00pm and
7:00pm) to see Into the Woods at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory
[FPAC]. See FPAC students for only $8 - $12. In a few years you may be
paying over $100 per ticket to see some of the same actors.*
*
*
*We only have 175 seats so I would highly recommend reservations -
440-338-3171.  At the closing weekend of Rent: Student Edition last February
we had over 100 walkups at each of the last few performances and came very
close to turning people away**.
**
Theatre address, biographies, ticket info here:*
http://www.fredsternfeld.com/intothewoodslaramiefpac.htm

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Fred,
*Into the Woods* was our daughter Emily's first FPAC production - so my wife
and I  - plus family and friends - were lucky enough to see the production 3
times these past two weekends. Not knowing what to expect, we went with
modest expectations but were more than pleasantly surprised by the talent
and creativity that we saw on stage - both in the students' performances and
the production values. This is not an easy piece of theater - and your
enthusiastic cast of young people really understood and embraced it and made
it their own.

At the same time, I should note that I write this not only as a parent,
who'd surely enjoy any show my daughter was in - but also as a long-time
Sondheim fanatic.  15 years ago, I had the good fortune to be the founding
Associate Editor of the quarterly Sondheim "appreciation" magazine, *The
Sondheim Review*  - serving in that role for about 5 years (check the
mag out at www.sondheimreview.com if you're not familiar with it).  Into the
Woods has long been one of my favorites - including catching half a dozen
performances of the original Broadway and tour casts and collecting a rare
video, audio and memorabilia library of the show's many incarnations and
casts.

In short, I guess I'm saying I know more than a little about this show - and
yet your production really surprised me!!  Rather than merely mimicking the
performances from the readily available Broadway video of the show, your
direction and the choices of your actors brought a new look to certain
lines, songs and scenes that I know so well. Not easy to do. Also, a couple
of key performers could have walked off that stage into pretty much any
adult production of this show, anywhere... Lots of talent up there...

Congrats again and looking forward to what 2010 has to bring for FPAC!

Best regards,

David Wirthwein
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