If there's anything to be gleaned from Into The Woods, it's that even the most beloved of fairy tales are not sacred.Bringing new life to the familiar stories we knew as children, Tympanium Euphorium's production of the Stephen Sondheim play quickly swept its audience into a fantasy world with a bewitching set and a dazzling cast.

The play throws together Little Red Riding Hood (Abby Trott '08), Cinderella (Olivia Mell '09), Jack (Harley Yanoff '08)-of "and the Beanstalk" fame-and Rapunzel (Kara Manson '08). The various characters travel into the titular woods in hopes of fullfilling their wishes during the first act; the consequences of the characters' achievement of their wishes, as well as the lessons they learn, make up the second act.

Sondheim's work is never simple, demanding strong voices from every character. Often, as many as seven different actors sing different lyrics and melodies simultaneously. Combined with a live orchestra that occasionally drowned out voices, it was sometimes difficult to hear the words. Still, the lyrics retained a large degree of clarity.

As an ensemble show, most characters had equitable roles yet stood out through physical and vocal quirks-whether it was Cinderella tripping on the path regularly or Rapunzel's Prince's (Justin Becker '09) hysterical hand motions as he lamented the agony of love. The Baker's Wife (Jordan Butterfield '07) and Cinderella also stood out with powerful voices.

But the Witch (Elizabeth Masalsky '08) had a proportionally larger part to play, because of her numerous lamentations. As the play progresses, she transforms from an ugly hag to a beautiful maiden, yet retains a hideous soul. Masalsky portrayed the part with the expected evil laugh; she wielded power and, most importantly, a shred of humanity, when singing two of the play's most powerful pieces: "Children Will Listen" and "It's the Last Midnight." As she was describing how a giant would "boom-squish" characters, it seemed as though there really was cause to be frightened.

Part of what made this world so engrossing was the set. Into The Woods can be quite difficult to stage; the plethora of different settings and the nature of the musical numbers ensure there is little time to change sets. The baker's house, as well as Rapunzel's dress, was dominated by a green shade that didn't work well with the lighting, and distracted from the otherwise bold and brightly elaborate set.

The full backdrop for the show, behind the smaller pieces, was that of a row of trees; the sky was an eerie dark blue, and the branches seemed to mingle with each other as closely as the stories of each of the characters, reminding the audience of the nostalgic fairy-tale world that it knew as children.

Musical theater often serves to enchant audiences with its bewitching rhythms and heartfelt emotion. Rarely does this enchantment contain a cast of witches, giants and others from a medley of fairy tales, with the exception of recent Broadway hit Wicked. Like most good art, the more effortless a piece seems, the more effort has been put into preparing it. Into The Woods seemed like child's play.