TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

It's a good time to feel Grimm.

On TV, the brothers' popular tales are featured on "Once Upon a Time" and "Grimm," and Vertigo Comics' long-running series "Fables" is set to launch another spin-off in the spring. Locally, Spotlight Theatre is getting into the act by offering some fractured fairy tales next weekend with "Into the Woods."

Like the aforementioned TV shows and comics, the musical is far from a classic retelling of the lives of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and beanstalk-climbing Jack. Although the first act builds toward a happy ending for all, the second act shakes it up, something that director Jarred Clowes appreciates.

"(Act two) is where the train gets off the tracks. It resolves the stories in a way we don't expect. You get the payoff when you stick around for the second act.

"A lot of times, people, while liking the show, dismiss it as being 'fairy taley,' but it can be a very emotional show. The characters can be as real as we allow them to be. One of the goals we had was to strip that (campiness) away."

Headlining the cast is Amy Adams as the witch, whose curse has left the baker and his wife (played by real-life couple Matt and Candice Swatzell) childless. The couple's adventures to break the curse have them crossing paths with the likes of Cinderella (Carolyn Fox), Jack (Steven Busch), Red Riding Hood (Paige McKeown) and wayward cow Milky White (Perrin Swanson). Pulling triple duty are Justina Neufeld (playing Rapunzel and the mothers of Jack and Cinderella) and Kim Whitney (as Cinderella's stepmother, Red's granny and a homicidal giant who, excuse the pun, looms large in act two).

The Spotlight is no stranger to these "Woods" -- former Spotlight artistic director Hal Friedman directed the 2004 production -- but Clowes said this version departs from that show in its presentation.

"The staging before was very traditional, like the Broadway presentation. It was a storybook attitude -- the set and the costumes -- done very straightforward."

This show, much like his "Jekyll and Hyde" last year, takes more of a black-box approach, eschewing set pieces for minimalist design and a focus on the performers.

"There is a place for the spectacle show. When you're working for a specific goal, that can get in the way.

"Some of the best moments I've had in theater as an audience member is with no set, no lighting and rehearsal clothes. If you put limitations on yourself, you force yourself to be creative."

Another way the show stands out is its "breakneck pace" between scenes, with entrances for the next scene taking place as the current one plays out. Clowes said that keeps things lively for the actors and the audience.

For the actors, "it becomes more about learning choreography than breaking it down scene by scene. In effect (in the first act), we make an hour-and-15-minute scene rather than 32 five-minute scenes. We get to that second act a lot faster than other productions (of 'Woods') because we chose to 'turn it up to 11.'"

That speed keeps the audience focused on the stage.

"It's a classic conundrum. If it's good they're not going to mind sitting for an hour and a half. If the show's bad, they're going to notice the seats are uncomfortable.

"I care how the audience is affected. I don't want to put something on stage that the audience won't emotionally respond to."