Olean Community Theatre, Inc.
presents the Broadway Musical Sensation
INTO THE WOODS
music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
book by James Lapine
directed by William J. Steffen
Allegany-Limestone School Auditorium
May 18-19-20, 2007
ABOUT THE SHOW...
By Joseph E. Bondaryk
The plot of Into The Woods is novel indeed. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine have intertwined the plots of some favorite fairy tales in creating a single even bigger one. The first act opens with the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and the Baker and his wife. These latter two are the folks from whom Red Riding Hood gets her goodies, and they are the focus of the story. The wife must enter the woods to assemble the ingredients for a potion required by their neighbor, the Witch, to remove a curse preventing them from having a child. In their search, the Baker and his wife meet up with Jack, Red Riding Hood, and the Wolf, as well as Cinderella, Rapunzel, and their respective Princes. These characters are all busy with their own fairy tales, but each possesses one ingredient for the potion. By the end of Act One, the curse is lifted, Jack kills the giant and is rich from stolen gold, the Wolf is killed, each damsel gets her respective Prince, and the Witch is transformed by her potion into a beauty. All should live happily ever after, right? Well, almost.
Act Two finds our mostly happy cohorts forced into the Wood again to kill the giant's wife, who has come down to earth on an errant beanstalk to get revenge for her husband's untimely demise. A good deal of bickering and finger-pointing ensues. Unfortunately, some of the characters get stepped on in the process, but the group finally bands together to dispose of the giant's wife, allowing the remaining characters to pick up the pieces of their lives. Like all fairy tales, there are some overt messages in all this that we are invited to take home with us.
The premise is wonderful. The connections made among the stories are clever and funny. The music tends to be more thematic than is currently trendy in theater music, but the lyrics are an interesting blend of tenderness and comedy. The entire story line plays on the audience's childhood sense of who these characters should be, pitting it in opposition with who they actually are -- a bunch of real people stuck in some rather odd circumstances. The characters become endearing through their more human qualities. Love-starved Princes, a gluttonous Red Riding Hood, a malcontented Cinderella, and others make for great fun.
excerpt from: http://www-tech.mit.edu/V112/N19/woods.19a.html
INTO THE WOODS opened November 5, 1987 at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York where it ran for 765 performances.
The Original Broadway Production won the following awards:
1988 Tony Award® Best Book of a Musical Book
by James Lapine
1988 Tony Award® Best Original Score
Music by Stephen Sondheim; Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
1988 Tony Award® Best Actress in a Musical
Joanna Gleason
1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical
Produced by Heidi Landesman, Rocco Landesman, Rick Steiner, M. Anthony Fisher, Frederic H. Mayerson, Jujamcyn Theaters (James H. Binger: Chairman; Rocco Landesman: President)
1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Book of a Musical
Book by James Lapine
1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Robert Westenberg
1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Joanna Gleason
1988 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lyrics
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
1988 Theatre World Award
Danielle Ferland
source: Internet Broadway Database
www.ibdb.com
The production team. . .
Producer. . . . . .Carla Campbell
Director. . . . . .William J. Steffen
Vocal Director. . . . . .Eric Van Druff
Orchestra Conductor. . . . . .Ruth Fuller
Technical Director. . . . . .Ken Roberts
Rehearsal Accompanist. . . . . .Joyce Gilroy
Costumer. . . . .Sheri Coatney
Stage Manager. . . . .Minna Badanes
THE CAST...
Narrator - Dave Coatney from Allegany
Cinderella - Christine Tanner from Franklinville
Jack - Jacque Austin from Tonawanda
Jack's Mother - Anna Bush from Olean
Baker - Nathan Bell from Olean
Baker's Wife - Ardyth Van Scoy from Limestone
Cinderella's Stepmother - Elaine Stephan from Olean
Florinda - Winni Paul from Olean
Lucinda - Katie Ward from Olean
Cinderella's Father - Steve Riley from Cuba
Little Red Ridinghood- Courtney Hoerner from Depew
Witch - Kathryn Black from Salamanca
Cinderella's Mother/Granny - Shelly Inwood from Fredonia
Mysterious Man - Steve Spry from Allegany
Cinderella's Prince/Wolf - Anthony Alcocer from Westons Mills
Rapunzel's Prince - Ryan Kasperski from Olean
Rapunzel - Megan Press from Olean
Steward - Luke Yerpe from Great Valley
Giant / Snow White - Sue Hannon from Olean
Sleeping Beauty - Sarah Martin from Olean
Milky-White - Alexa Campbell from Portville
Fairy - Danielle Campbell from Portville
Fairy - Erin Coatney from Allegany
Fairy - Laura Giberson from Portville
