By Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer 
The Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston. - File
FROM THE heart of Kingston's concrete jungle, audiences were invited to a musical walk into a fairy tale forest at the launch of the Broadway musical Into the Woods last Thursday. The musical will play at the Ward Theatre beginning on Boxing Day, December 27, the run ending on January 30, 2005.
The production was launched in the Port Antonio Suite of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston. The James Lapine (book) and Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) production marries four well-known fairy tales with a new one, as the characters from the various pieces wander through the woods as fairy tale characters often do.
The production, which continues the Ward's long tradition of
having a production on Boxing Day, received $3 million from the CHASE fund. The letter of promise was presented by Billy Heaven to Wycliffe Bennett.
CAST MEMBERS
Into the Woods features 'Little Red Riding Hood', played by Keisha Patterson, 'Cinderella' (Christine McDonald), Rapunzel (Ana Strachan) and 'Jack' (Neville Dallen). There are also the requisite princes, played by Orrin Scott-Stewart and Charles Anthony Moore and, of course, a witch, Pat Gooden. These legen-dary characters are joined by the baker and his wife, played by Michael Harris and Erica Brown respectively.
The cast will also feature Totlyn Oliver (Cinderella's stepmother), Pauline Stone Myrie and Margeurite Newland (alternating as Jack's mother) and Edgar Gallimore, who takes on the role of the narrator.
The play will be directed and produced by Norman Rae.
The production will also employ the talents of Franklyn 'Chappie' St. Juste (lighting design), Larry Watson (set design), Quindell Ferguson (wardrobe), Paula Shaw (movement) and Andrew Cavell (musical director).
The launch began by invoking the production's fairy tale nature as Edgar Gallimore, who in imitation of his role of narrator played host and invited the audience for their stroll into the woods. As the event progressed the audience was shown what musical treasures awaited them with three duets from the production. Ana Strachan and Pat Gooden displayed the princess/witch mother/daughter dynamic with Our Little World. Orrin Scott-Stewart and Keisha Patterson performed Hello Little Girl, while Erica Brown and Michael Harris delivered It Takes Two.
KEEPING THE WARD ALIVE
Despite or maybe most appropriately because of its fairy tale nature, Into The Woods takes a serious look at issues such as love and freedom. But the play's production in Kingston is even more important. It is a part of a struggle for survival.
As first stated by Wycliffe Bennett, chairman of the Ward Theatre Foundation and reiterated by Norman Rae and Councillor Desmond McKenzie, mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew, Into the Woods is a part of the attempt to keep downtown Kingston alive by keeping the Ward Theatre alive.
"I go back to the days when the Ward was really the centre of Kingston," began Rae. He noted, however, that those days were before Kingston expanded into "the hills", "the dunes" and "the swamps". He noted that the perception that Parade was unsafe was an untruth.
Councillor McKenzie sent forth several jabs during his address. "This is our city and we must feel confident and safe to travel anywhere in our city," he said. The mayor asked corporate Jamaica to not merely purchase tickets and give them away, but to actually come down to the performances. He also promised that the place would be sanitised and the drains cleaned for the occasion.
He was careful not to only address those uptown, as he reminded the citizens of downtown Kingston that they were fighting for their survival. In a final jab, he told the heritage society to "wheel and come again" before they declared the entire city a heritage site, because such a project needs an intense programme of public education before it could be effective.
