Snow theater presenting classical
musical ‘Into the Woods’
starting tonight at 7:30 p.m.
EPHRAIM—The Snow College theater department is presenting “Into the Woods,” one of the great classics of musical theater.
Opening night is tonight in the Kim Christison Theater at the Eccles Center on Snow College campus.
The show will run for six performances: tonight through Saturday, and next weekend, Thursday, March 1, through Saturday, March 3.
Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel—these names are centuries old, their tales have been told time and time again.
This musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine places all of these stories side by side so the woods Jack wanders through to sell his cow are the same woods that Rapunzel’s tower sits in, the same woods that Little Red Riding Hood skips through to reach her grandmother’s house.
“It’s a fairy tale,” said director Trent Bean, “but it’s a fairy tale set in a real, complex world. It uses these stories to look at the complexities of wishing and what it’s really like to get your wish, the difficulties with ‘happy ever after’.”
The musical employs a 22-person cast which has been rehearsing since the beginning of January—working to discover unique and honest portrayals of these beloved characters, who are already so familiar to audiences.
Hannah Romney, who plays The Witch, shared how her portrayal of the character is “pretty fun—she’s a skeptical, aloof, old hag but also a gorgeous, sinister enchantress.”
The cast is joined by a 12-piece orchestra to play Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning score as well as a technical crew made up of Snow students. The costumes were designed by Snow Theater’s longtime costumer, Kathleen Hansen.
“The cast has been optimal, the crew has been optimal. I could not have asked for a better experience mounting this production,” said Bean. “And one of the big things is a real sense of ownership of this show by the cast and crew.”
“Into the Woods,” like the fairy tales it’s based on, exists to teach lessons and morals to those of us in the audience—and it doesn’t settle for small themes. This show seeks to address such issues as losing loved ones, determining right and wrong and learning to love and be loved by the people around us.
“This show makes observations on how there are always good and bad people on both sides of an issue,” said Bean. “In our current cultural climate, after these national tragedies that we have, it’s easy to divide people in our minds into ‘those guys’ and ‘these guys’ and forget that there really is good and bad on either side.”
Romney said her “favorite theme of the show is that everyone suffers losses, whether they be big or small; everyone loses something. But we can get through those losses with the support of the community.”
Tickets are $9 for adults, $8 for seniors and those of high school age and younger, and $3 for Snow students with their student ID.
