'Into the Woods' at the Kimmel Cultural Campus offers an unprecedented revival

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The Broadway smash hit "Into the Woods" opens for an exclusive engagement at the Kimmel Cultural Campus Tuesday.

The Grammy award-winning musical has been a fan favorite for decades, but this touring production is doing something pretty unique.

What started as a special two-week engagement at New York City Center moved to a Broadway stage. It played there to sold-out crowds until it had to physically move out of the theater.

That all-star cast wasn't ready to say goodbye. So, they didn't. The entire cast picked up and took the show on the road.

"I think it all took us by surprise," says Jason Forbach, who plays "Rapunzel's Prince."

It was the Broadway run that just kept selling out and kept getting extended.

"Finally they said, 'Look, there is another show that's coming into this theater,'" says Stephanie J. Block, who plays "The Baker's Wife."

That's when this cast of Tony and Olivier Award winners packed up and took the Woods on the road.

"What's fun and rare is that the entire closing night Broadway cast picked up and went on the road," Forbach says. "I don't know if any Broadway show has done that. You'll never see anything like this."

This is a musical nestled in nostalgia.

"It takes a lot of beloved fairytale characters, a lot of the Grimm fairy tale characters like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, Jack in the Beanstalk, Rapunzel," Forbach says, "and creates the greatest mashup of all of these characters. They connect on this journey in the woods."

And it's in the woods where each character searches for what they wish for.

"In Act One, it's just every three seconds, you're laughing, right?" says Block.

It's a very funny fairytale until it's not.

"The Second Act is there to humble us, shake us and go, 'Yeah, you're not going to get everything you want,'" says Gavin Creel, who plays "Cinderella's Prince/The Wolf."

And while the cast feels like a family, "The Baker," played by Sebastian Arcelus and Block, "The Baker's Wife," are a real-life couple.

"We're also touring with our eight-year-old daughter and a nanny," Block says. "We're a little like The Partridge Family."

The original revival cast from last spring was hand-picked by the now-late Stephen Sondheim. They just won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater album.

"We don't feel like Stephen is gone," Creel says. "It feels like every night we get on stage, he is with us. There he is, every night."

"Into the Woods" opens April 3 at the Miller Theater and runs through Sunday, April 9.