Northwestern State University Theatre will perform “Into the Woods” on April 20-22 and 25-27 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. Performance times are April 20-21 and 25-27 at 7:30 p.m. and April 22 at 2 p.m. Pia Wyatt is the director with musical direcion by Dr.Corey Trahan. Robert Richoux is set designer, Paul Pharris is lighting designer and Mary Rogers is costume designer.
Tickets are $15, $12 for children and seniors and Northwestern State, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. For ticket information, call (318) 357-4218 or (318) 357-4483.
“Into the Woods” features an ambivalent Cinderella, a bloodthirsty Little Red Ridinghood, a Prince Charming with a roving eye and a witch who raps. They are among the cockeyed characters in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale. When a baker and his wife learn they’ve been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel and Jack (who climbed the beanstalk). Everyone’s wish is granted at the end of Act One but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results. What begins as a lively, irreverent fantasy becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.
“’Into the Woods’ explores that what we want and what we get sometimes are not the same thing and makes us realize that although we feel lonely and abandoned at times, we are not alone,” said Wyatt. “It teaches us that we must deal with the consequences of our actions and yet there is always someone to help, guide and be with you as we learn from our choices and get through tough times, together. We chose this piece to share this universal feeling of needing someone and it being okay to be alone in what is sometimes a scary world.”
The cast is Katie Bancroft of New Orleans as Rapunzel, Luther Brooks of Lafayette as Jack, Trevor Brown of New Orleans as Cinderella’s Prince, Rosa Campbell of Baton Rouge as Baker’s wife, Joey Carroll of Watson as Cinderella’s Stepmother, Adleigh Denham of Central as Sleeping Beauty, Maddie Fry of Baton Rouge as the Witch, Casey Giddens of Shreveport as Little Red Ridinghood, Sean Grady of Leesville as Baker, Payton Hartwick of Edmond, Oklahoma, as Jack’s Mother, Addison Hinson of New Orleans and Titus McCann of Covington as Cinderella’s stepsisters, Dania Hunter of Leesville as Cinderella’s mother, Jesse Kortus of Shreveport as the narrator, Madalyn Mullins of Baton Rouge as grandmother, Kyle Munson of Prairieville as Rapunzel’s prince, Andrew Palmintier of Lafayette as Cinderella’s father, Sidney Polezchek of Amite as a steward, Emily Ricalde of New Orleans as Cinderella, Asher Van Meter of Edmond, Oklahoma, as the Wolf and Maci Walgamotte of Slidell as Snow White.
“It is a large size cast which has allowed us to use a variety of our department from freshmen to graduating seniors,” said Wyatt. “The music is very tough as it is Stephen Sondheim, so it has challenged our student’s musicality and helped them gain experience in tough material, rehearsing 6 days a week since the end of January.
According to Wyatt, “Into the Woods” is not “your typical musical.” The play includes giants and witches and many characters do not make it to the end of the musical. She said Act Two gives a darker look into the reality of the fairy tale world, while Act One is full of hope and joy.
