\noffers opportunities, challenges
\nfor performers; runs Oct. 25 \u2013 Nov. 3
\n<\/span><\/i><\/b>
\nAllentown, Pa. (Oct. 11, 2019) \u2014 \u201cInto the Woods,\u201d Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine\u2019s darkly comic reenvisioning of classic Brothers Grimm, comes to the stage of Muhlneberg College\u2019s nationally recognized Theatre and Dance program, Oct 25 \u2013 Nov. 3.<\/p>\n
A book by Lapine and score and lyrics by Sondheim weave together the plots of several fairytale favorites, including Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella. The show features a complex, vocally challenging, and multilayered score; a 15- piece professional orchestra accompanies the production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music really is the pulse of this story,\u201d says the production\u2019s director, Beth Schachter. \u201cIt brings you into a world of fantasy where everything feels like a familiar dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The production runs in Muhlenberg\u2019s Empie Theatre, in the Baker Center for the Arts. Tickets and information are available at muhlenberg.edu\/theatre<\/a> and 484-664-3333.<\/p>\n The story starts with a wish: the Baker and his Wife wish for a child; Cinderella wishes to attend the King\u2019s Festival; Jack wishes his cow would give milk. When the Baker and his Wife learn that a Witch\u2019s spell is to blame for their troubles, they set off on a journey to break the curse. All the characters get their wish \u2014 for a time. But as they soon learn, a wish granted is no guarantee of happiness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows the darker consequences of people pursuing what they want, no matter the cost to other people,\u201d Schachter says. \u201cIt\u2019s a piece about people who lie a lot to get what they want and how they haven\u2019t foreseen the results of those lies.\u201d<\/p>\n The production\u2019s cast says the show\u2019s greatest challenges and greatest pleasures come from Sondheim\u2019s complex and difficult vocal score.<\/p>\n Sophie MacKay \u201920, in the role of the Witch, said she knew the production was going to be special when she and the cast sang the 15-minute prologue for the first time.<\/p>\n ”It was a powerful moment,\u201d MacKay says. \u201cYou could feel the energy in the room. You could feel how excited everyone was to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n Caden Fraser \u201920, playing the Baker, says the cast has been working hard to master the score\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at Sondheim\u2019s mercy,\u201d Fraser says. \u201cHe\u2019s a wonderful composer. He writes what he wants; you just have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n As a composer and lyricist, Sondheim has contributed his talents to half a century of award-winning musicals, dating back to 1961\u2019s \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d His best-known works include \u201cSweeney Todd,\u201d \u201cCompany,\u201d and \u201cA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.\u201d Sondheim is the winner of more Tony Awards than any other composer in history; he won a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cSondheim\u2019s work comes with heavy demands for its performers, but they are excelling quite brilliantly,\u201d Schachter says. \u201cThey all bring heart and humor to the show as well as the lovely vocal work they all have achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n Schachter says she feels confident in the production team as well as the cast.<\/p>\n \u201cThe designers for this production are uniting to help tell this story,\u201d Schachter says. \u201cThe scenic design by Bryce Cutler emphasizes a sense of constant motion and bewilderment.\u201d<\/p>\n Twenty-foot-tall trees move along with the cast as they progress deeper into the woods. Places and paths appear out of nowhere, and just as quickly disappear.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a musical in which people are always going someplace,\u201d Schachter says. \u201cIt feels as though the forest itself begins to chase people.\u201d<\/p>\n Schachter brings her interest in feminist theatre and theory to this production of a show that explores the \u201cdamsel in distress\u201d trope common to fairy tales.<\/p>\n \u201cCinderella won\u2019t be wearing heels! They\u2019re hard to move around in,\u201d she says. \u201cSerena Williams doesn\u2019t wear heels.\u201d<\/p>\n In that spirit, Schachter says she has encouraged her actors to think about how their characters are portrayed in the show and how they differ from their source material \u2014 and also about how our thinking has evolved even since the 1980s, when the show was written. MacKay says the conversation has definitely informed her performance as the Witch.<\/p>\n \u201cBeth has changed the way we as actors think about our characters,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s empowering getting to command the stage as a woman, with everything that\u2019s going on today.\u201d<\/p>\n MacKay says the most exciting challenge of this process has been figuring out how to shape this iconic role to make it her own.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been listening to \u2018Into the Woods\u2019 since I was 10 years old,\u201d she says. \u201cBernadette Peters\u2019 voice is engraved into my head. It\u2019s been really fun finding ways to discover the Witch within me.\u201d<\/p>\n Fraser says he has also found some insight into his own identity through his portrayal of the Baker.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point in his life, the Baker is willing to do anything it takes to start a family,\u201d he says. \u201cEntering that parental perspective has evoked emotions in me that I\u2019ve never experienced before.\u201d<\/p>\n Fraser says that the themes of the play are often weighty and the characters do face serious challenges and even tragedies, the musical itself is an escape.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an entertaining and fast paced show,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can escape all of your own problems by sitting in the theatre and witnessing this story unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInto the Woods\u201d plays Oct. 25 through Nov. 2. Showtimes are 8 p.m. for Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows, with 2 p.m. matinees on Sunday, Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 2. Tickets are $22; $8 for students. Tickets can be purchased online at muhlenberg.edu\/theatre<\/a> or by phone at 484-664-3333. Performances are in the Empie Theatre in the Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 West Chew St., Allentown.<\/p>\n Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private, four-year residential, liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pa., approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences as well as selected pre-professional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg\u2019s theater program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance. The department was founded in 1983; the theater major was established in 1978, and the dance major was established in 1993.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n Information Provided By: <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nShowtimes are Friday, Oct. 25, and Saturday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 27, at 2 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 31, and Friday, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 2, at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 3, at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing & Development Manager
\nMuhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance<\/p>\n
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