Drama Department Prepares for “Into the Woods”

The 46-member cast, along with musicians, dancers and crew are all preparing for “Into the Woods” debut Nov. 18.

    “Into the Woods” combines the stories of many Grimm fairy tales in a fantastical musical about a baker and his wife trying to break a witch’s curse. It is a personal favorite production of director Brett Young.

    “I just liked the idea of it, that the very beginning of it has lots of fun and comedy, and then it actually gets very serious and has good messages and morals to the story in the second act,” Young said.

    Because of the many fairy tale characters, this production includes many large roles. Senior Lucia Corredor will play Cinderella; sophomore Zoe McCarthy will play Red Riding Hood, and junior Zach Lambertz will play Jack. Seniors Price Collier and Banton Ward will play the baker and his wife.

    “I am so excited that the show can showcase so much of our talent,” Collier said. “We have so many talented kids, and this allows many of them to have a moment to shine.”

    Into the Woods was written by Stephen Sondheim who is well known for writing difficult music. Many of the roles require challenging vocals.

    “Sometimes the character has solos, sometimes they have duets, and some people just sing with the group,” Young said. “We have to look at what each person can do and handle musically.”

    Preparation for the musical starts early, and the first step for the actors is to learn the music. Once they do that they can move on to learning movement and choreography on the stage. Eventually, all the costumes and props will be added to make a complete show.

    “The costumes will be a big challenge because there are so many different fairy tale characters,” Young said. “Some are rich, some are poor, and they don’t have to look like the traditional costumes you see in the original cartoon movies.”

    A lot goes into a musical from the sets, the rehearsals and, for the first time since COVID, there will even be a live orchestra for the show. 

    “I am just excited to see everything come together, and how all aspects of the cast and crew work together in order to create the greatest show possible,” Ward said.