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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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SHS set for play ‘Into the Woods’
Published January 17, 2008
SEGUIN — Prince Charming is a jerk and the wicked witch isn’t all that bad.
Seguin High School’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” turns conventional fairy-tale logic on its head with a twisted-yet-true look at what follows “happily ever after.”
“The witch is the only character is the play who doesn’t lie,” said senior Hannah Brake, who plays the witch. “My favorite line is in one of the songs, ‘witches can be right, giants can be good.’”
The story begins with the straight-forward tales of Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Rapunzel. However, once the curtain rises on Act 2 everything changes.
Senior Alex Soulard, who plays the narrator, said even her character — usually an omniscient observer — is not safe from the play’s irony.
“It all starts off normally with ‘once upon a time in a far off place,’” she explained. “But then it goes into what happens after happily-ever-after and half-way through the second act they kill me off.”
Junior Kyle Krambeck, who plays Jack (of bean stalk fame), said the narrator had it coming.
“We were tired of her story,” he said with a shrug.
The play, directed by theater teacher Rebecca Phillips and co-directed by theater teacher Sheila Lucas and choir teacher Dawn Sheridan-Reinhuber, stretches the actors’ abilities as much as the audience’s imagination.
“It’s way beyond the scope of what a lot of high school plays do,” Brake said. “It’s very wordy and Sondheim’s songs are not exactly melodies, they’re more like notes that sound pretty together but are really hard to learn.”
Phillips said the play also takes previously two-dimensional characters and pushes them to a new level.
“This is one of my favorite musicals,” she said. “It’s more than a musical — it represents life and our choices. The music is addicting and the characters are enchanting.”
Freshman Lauren Bouquet, who plays Cinderella, said her character is usually relegated to fretting over chores and the ball. But in “Into the Woods,” the servant-turned-princess fears change and wonders if staying at home with her wicked stepsisters might be safer than choosing a new life.
“When she gets to the ball it’s everything she dreamed of, but the prince isn’t exactly what she expected. He’s kind of insensitive,” she said. “So then she’s trying to decide if she should face her fears of doing something different and marry the prince, or stay with her normal life.”
Krambeck said his character also grows from a gullible boy to a somewhat-less-gullible man.
In the first act, the baker and his wife convince Jack to trade his beloved cow for beans. The resulting bean stalk leads him to a giant’s treasure and — although he brings home plenty of loot and slays the giant — he must also learn that his actions come with consequences when the giant’s widow appears on a mission of revenge.
“Jack’s not that bright and he’s like 18 or 19 and still lives with his mom,” Krambeck said. “But by the second act he starts to become more mature and realize that he can be on his own without anyone around to tell him what to do.”
“Into the Woods” opens tonight and runs through Jan. 19, with shows starting at 7 p.m. each night. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.
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