Maria Mercedes returns to the stage after a long hiatus with the West Australian Opera (WAO) for what she called a “dream role” in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony-Award-winning musical, Into the Woods.
The production that first premiered on 9 February 2022 at the Northern Ireland Opera in Belfast was dubbed by the London Times as “a genius and irresistible” production, “a visual and musical masterpiece”.
Directed by Cameron Menzies and conducted by Jen Winley, Into the Woods features Mercedes as The Witch next to Alexander Lewis as The Baker, and Samantha Clarke as The Baker’s Wife at His Majesty’s Theatre from 23 March – 1 April.
“I have in a way been hibernating for the past few years. The industry is also getting back on its feet after Covid; not exactly what we are used to,” Maria Mercedes who has always wanted to work with Menzies tells Neos Kosmos.
“We have been talking about it for ages and now the stars are aligned.”
LIKE AN ARCHER TAKING AIM
Even though there had been previous conversations of a collaboration with Menzies, the actress and singer, who has been performing from the age of 16, got the role through the regular audition process.
“I wanted to get it on my own merit, without nepotism and favouritism. I prepared and sent out a self tape. Went through all the audition channels and I didn’t want to tell anyone I was submitting my audition,” she says. “I did my best and let it go!”
Maria, excited and grateful to be working on this production, sees The Witch’s songs and prose as “the pinnacle of her performer’s career”.
The mezzo soprano, is getting prepared to embody the character her own way; an ambitious feat, following the iconic performance by Meryl Streep in the film version of Into the Woods.
“Opera is much stricter than prose, or a normal concert. The writer is the paint and the director holds the brushes, you are the instrument that has to bring the painting to life,” she said.
Drawing on Maria Callas’ performances -another iconic role Maria has had the pleasure to embody- she argues that the soprano was the only opera singer that broke out of the mould and did things differently, bringing authenticity into the genre.
“Her guttural sounds, her breathing, her crying. Maria was very real,” she says.
For Maria Mercedes musical theatre is a very unusual medium of telling a story because “it’s not real”.
“When we’re having conversations with people. We don’t break into a song,” she says.
Studying and interpreting Maria Callas was a life-changing experience for the Greek Australian artist, who plans to follow a similar path to bring The Witch to life.
“I really had to connect to her spiritually every night before I walked out on stage. Channel her energy and ask her to come out with me every night. Because I literally could not do it without her blessing.”
“I know it sounds weird but Callas is not just a person, she is a world. To bring her to life, with all her pain, her anguish, her heartbreak and her passion. The sacrifices she made. You know you can’t just act your way through. There has to be a part of yourself to enter that realm.”
After playing Maria Callas and creating deep emotional moments on stage in Taxithi, the much loved show that connected her to her mother’s immigration journey before Covid, Maria wasn’t sure about the future of a female performer her age.
Maria wants to be an example for women and performers, especially those of culturally diverse background; show them that they should not let limiting beliefs or situations stop them and keep aiming for their dreams.
“Even though things are changing and art tries to be more diverse and inclusive, opportunities are still very limited. Being selected showed me that my dreams are still achievable. I feel humbled and blessed because the show itself is almost a lesson on life.”
A MUSICAL THAT MORPHS INTO A SHAMANIC JOURNEY
Into the Woods follows the story of enchanted fairytale characters, representing millennia old archetypes who reveal their most human selves as storylines and heroes cross paths. They desire and wish for something but what will happen if everyone gets what they want?
“The plot is kind of deceiving,” Maria says. “The first half is all the favorite fairy tale characters that that we have grown up with. But then the second second-half of the show, becomes quite black and white, full of twists.”
She sees the show as a metaphor for the state of the world; an awakening through the darkness. The characters go through their own voids and nightmares, a journey of introspection that brings their flaws to light. The Witch like a deus ex-machina, is the catalyst that reveals the protagonists’ hidden egos, their delusional human nature, the pain that one can cause to another under the guise of entitlement.
Maria gets to tap into her dark side, her comedic side and pull the strings of tragedy as the story unravels.
“She is feared, she can cast terrible spells on people but at the same time she’s trying to teach all these different characters, Jack and the Bakers wife, little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, and everyone a lesson,” Maria points out.
“The Witch reveals to them how selfish the world really is and how everyone complains and asks and gets absorbed into what they want, but, are they really prepared to get what they want at any cost?”
This antihero has learned through her own suffering, she had herself a spell placed upon her that turned her from a beautiful young woman into a hideous old hag, a tragedy.
“When we face the consequences of our collective greed, like we all did and will keep doing after the past three years, we realise that everything that bothers us on the outside needs to actually change from within,” Maria muses, stressing that “mythological archetypes have always been timeless”.
“Covid revealed to us that we need to take care of our inner world, our health, the environment. To be a lot more honest and collaborate in order to survive and preserve the values that really matter. We also need to learn how to surrender to what we can’t control but at the same time control what we can, ourselves.”
The Witch, for Maria, becomes the Shamanic Medicine Wheel that triggers the heroes onto their pilgrimage and into their healing. The experience, is so deep that the audience is swept into the energy, “it’s highly unlikely they won’t have their own revelations come up after they watch the show. It’s that powerful”.
For bookings visit: www.artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au/venues/his-majestys-theatre/whats-on/into-the-woods