Christine Howey

There's something appealing about going to a theater and watching two plays instead of one. Why settle for just one story when you can get two entirely different, and entirely captivating, experiences? And when those plays are co-directed by Greg Cesear and Tricia Bestic, you're assured of a special evening.

There's a reason playwright George S. Kaufman once pouted that "Satire is what closes on Saturday night." It's because satire is damn hard to pull off since it's based on a delicate twist: It's pretending to be what you're not so that you can undermine what you're pretending to be. That is exactly the twist that keeps Purlie Victorious, now at Karamu House, aloft.

If you described the musical Into the Woods as a romp with various fairy tale characters who interact with each other in often amusing ways, you'd be right. You'd also be right if you said the play is a journey into the dark place where all our demons reside and that you may emerge wiser, or not. This Great Lakes Theater production of the much-loved Stephen Sondheim musical bristles with invigorating movement and features a raft of fine singing voices.