The Kelly Critics is a joint program of the Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh CLO in which students of high schools entered in this year's Gene Kelly Awards review other school's musicals.

Steven Sondheim and James Lapine's "Into the Woods" is one of the most entertaining and difficult ensemble musicals ever written. Hampton High School recently attempted and achieved the show with flying colors.

The show is a fabulous musical experience of everyone's favorite childhood fairytales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Rapunzel, plus an invented tale, The Baker and His Wife. As all of the stories get smashed together, you are pulled into a magical world of love and confusion.

Particularly enchanting was the breath-taking set. The narrator, the old lady who lived in a shoe, sat outside of a wonderfully large shoe. The lights came up on the stage to three large books, which opened up into the houses of the Baker, Jack, and Cinderella. This was an incredible sight to see. It was actually nicer and more useful then some professional sets.

When the houses were moved you were pulled into the woods, a fabulous set with many different levels, which kept the blocking interesting. There was a bridge in the background that wasn't used as often as it could have been but was still intriguing. Few high school sets can be used in so many ways. It made the show much more visually attractive.

Standing out the most was Jack's Mother, played by student vocal director Isabella Coelho. Her voice and acting surpassed all expectations in the small role. She stole all scenes she was in. She seemed to understand a mother's grief and expectations, especially when raising a fatherless son. She also had perfect comedic timing and overplayed nothing.

Rachel Perry as the baker's wife sang wonderfully. She kept the show upbeat and, as one of the more reasonable characters, sincere. She kept an avid maturity beyond her high school years. She also had an incredible and slightly surreal chemistry with her husband, the baker.

As the witch, Melanie Thomas did a fabulous job. Her comedic timing was right on and her singing was perfect. In the first act she crept around, bent over, making the audience feel uneasy and worried for the other characters as she insisted that they find the four items so she could fall back into her past beautiful self.

Dan Petrovich did a hilarious job as the baker. His facial expressions were comical and he seemed to jump right into the character's take on each situation. Even in some of the heavier scenes he was able to keep a realistic and comical demeanor.

Perhaps the most impressive performance though, was that of the cow, Milky White, played by Andrew Benton. Every time he came out on stage he was bent down and followed every character around just as he was supposed to. Although he had stilts in his costume it was still wonderfully entertaining to watch him wander around the stage mooing.

The dancers were an important part of the show. They never got in the way of anything that was happening up on stage. They intensified every scene they were part of. The choreographer and director deserve a lot of credit for having the dancers be a key part of the story instead of an add-on to include more students.

The show was wonderfully impressive. Every other student did a great job and seemed to genuinely enjoy what they were doing up on stage.