Kent-Trumbull ventures ‘Into the Woods’ for fall musical
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While the musical "Into the Woods" is set in the world of fairy tales, director Harmon Andrews wanted his staging to be rooted in a more realistic setting, at least emotionally.
"I was looking at these overarching themes of family, of parents and children and how our past can affect our future, our desires, what we want versus what we need," Andrews said. "I stripped away the fairy tale aspect of it, and these are just people who are trying to live their lives. Place it in any other setting, and it’s still a compelling story.
"So when it came time for casting and for blocking, I wanted these characters to feel like they had depth, to feel like they had stakes, and it didn’t feel like 'Shrek,' where it’s a parody of fairy tales. It feels like they’re real people dealing with situations that just happen to exist in this world."
Andrews directs Kent State University at Trumbull Theatre's production of "Into the Woods," which opens tonight for an eight-performance run.
"Into the Woods," featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine, is one of the most popular musicals by one of the most beloved composers of the last 60-plus years. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 1987 (it lost best musical to "The Phantom of the Opera"). A 2002 production won the Tony for best musical revival, and it also played Broadway in 2022-23. A 2014 film version earned more than $200 million worldwide and received three Academy Award nominations.
The plot weaves together several familiar fairy tales -- Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel -- as well as an original plotline about a baker and his wife, but those stories veer sharply from the traditional "happily ever after" endings.
"I think a lot of people just connect with the story and the characters," Andrews said. "This idea of 'want' with the woods. I’ve looked at it as this sort of confusion that we get in life. It’s a physical place, but it’s also this state of being where you get disoriented or you get lost, and we all experience that.
"I think a lot of people connect with those themes of sometimes feeling confused or lost, but at the end of the musical, there’s literally the line, 'The light is getting dimmer. I think I see a glimmer,' which is, we will get out of the woods, we will get out of whatever troubles we are in."
Because of the show's popularity in the theater community, Andrews had no trouble assembling a cast.
"I have a couple actors who wrote on their audition forms that it was a dream role for them to be such and such character," he said. "Luckily I was able to offer them those roles because they had the talent to back it up."
The cast features Conner Bezeredi, Carolyn Colley, Sarah Whitlatch, Rachael Conrad, Katara Brown, Maddie Wason, Madalena DiVieste, Aman Singh, Gwen Baker, Craig Conrad, Rachelle Hamilton, Emma Wason, Emily Slusarz, Jessica Ludovici, Liz Conrad, Jonathan Bahrey, David Leach, Kage Coven and Sydnie Schoening.
The production team includes Clay Colley, musical director; Kat Roman, choreographer; Kenzie Ramsey-James, scenic designer; Peter Sherman, costumer; Cordell Ramsey, lighting designer; Eric John Keuntz, sound designer; Baz Wenger, technical director; and Jess Brumfield, stage manager.
"It’s still very fantastical with costuming and our set design," Andrews said. "One of the key things I talked with Kenzie about was I really wanted to avoid symmetry. If you go into a forest, nothing is ever even. Everything’s kind of confusing and different. So we have a big platform that’s off center. We have these periaktoi that will spin around and show different scenery moments. I have actors coming in and out of seven different entrances and exits throughout the whole show because I wanted the audience as well to feel surrounded, to feel like they were in the woods witnessing all of the events that take place."
"Into the Woods" is Andrews' first time directing a musical. He originally pitched the ABBA musical "Mamma Mia" for Kent-Trumbull's season, but theater director Eric Kildow proposed the Sondheim show instead since they've staged a few rock-oriented musicals recently.
There is a larger cast and more elements to worry about directing a musical, Andrews said, but there's also a lot more help.
"With directing a play, in my experience, a lot of it is on you. You’re usually the person who’s coordinating everything. When it comes to musicals, you have so many different departments. You have music, you have choreo, you have possibly stage combat, and all of them need to communicate to facilitate the performance. With a regular play, you still have that facilitation of lights and sound, but in terms of anything that’s shown on stage, it’s pretty much your vision.
"The collaborative process was amazing. My team was fantastic the whole way through. But it was definitely a bit weird to just sit at rehearsals and be like, 'I have nothing to do right now because they’re learning songs.'"
WHAT: "Into the Woods"
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 22
WHERE: Kent State University at Trumbull Theatre, 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW, Champion HOW MUCH: Tickets are $27.05 adults, $24.95 students and senior citizens, $22.85 children ages 12 and younger and free for Kent students and faculty and are available online at ksutt.ludus.com and by calling 330-675-8887.