(Above: Kory Weimer and Brittany Dreier, as the baker and his wife, lead the cast of Cottage Theatre’s production of Into the Woods.)

By Randi Bjornstad

Into the Woods, the musical, has been around for a surprisingly long time. Not compared with the ancient fairy tales it draws on for its plot lines, of course — those date back to the Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) who first published their slightly grim stories  nearly 210 years ago, just before Christmas in 1812.

Back then the stories were collected in a volume called Children’s and Household Tales, and many of the characters — among them Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, and Snow White — remain familiar to this day.

Into the Woods became a modern musical when it opened on Broadway in 1987. Steven Sondheim wrote the music, with the book — aka the script — created by James Lapine. It won three Tony Awards, for Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical for performer Joanna Gleason, in spite of being in competition with another musical based on another old story a mere 112 years old, The Phantom of the Opera, adapted from Gaston Leroux’s novel.

Now, in 2022, Cottage Theatre is bringing its version of Into the Woods to the stage, describing it as a “dark and haunting fractured fairy tale” that borrows freely from many of the plots and characters of the Grimm stories.

When the main characters, a baker and his wife, learn that the once beautiful but now ugly old witch next door has put the curse of childlessness on them and that the only way they can undo her spell is to gather the objects — a white cow, hair the color of yellow corn, a gold slipper, and a red cape — that can restore her beauty, the Bakers naturally embark on the quest.

Little Red Riding Hood is played by Maddie Page Cottage Theatre’s Into the Woods.

They go, yes, you guessed it, Into the Woods, where their desperation leads them to do bad things such as lying to, cheating, swindling, and stealing from people such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Jack of Beanstalk fame in order to achieve their own ends.

Along the way they discover that all of these characters are on their own quests to fill wishes of their own. Naturally, it’s a lot more complicated than that, with most of the characters intertwined in intrigues that have involved each other in the past. In the end, all of the characters get their wishes, but as in real life, sometimes those perceived “wins” come at the cost of serious “losses.”

Into the Woods also became an acclaimed film in 2014, starring Meryl Streep as the witch, Emily Blunt as the baker’s wife, and James Corden as the baker.

Jaclyn Beck is Cinderella in Into the Woods at Cottage Theatre

Cottage Theatre’s production features Maya Burton as the witch, with Kory Weimer and Brittany Dreier as the baker and his wife. Jaclyn Beck plays Cinderella, with Audriahna Jones as Jack, Maddie Paige as Little Red Riding Hood, and Matthew Kelty as the narrator.

The large cast also includes Daniel Borson, Sophie Blades and Adelaide Grass, Nancy West, Aislinn Mirsch, Katie Kincaid, Will DeHaven, Sophie Mitchell, Laurel Merz, Jodi Arend, Quinn Branstetter, Alycia Culnane, and Bil Morrill, plus a supporting ensemble made up of Anja Bartlog, Holland Holub, Sophia James, Willow Kelty, and Kathryn Noel.

Mark VanBeever is the designer and director of the production, with Amber Hagen as assistant director and Bil Morrill as stage manager. Lindy Lou Smith is choreographer, with lighting design by Amanda Ferguson and costumes by Amber Hagen, Lynne Schuepbach, and Rhonda Turnquist.

Into the Woods at Cottage Theatre

When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7-8, 13-15, 20-22 and 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, 16, and 23

Where: Cottage Theatre, 700 Village Drive, Cottage Grove

Tickets: $27 for adults, $15 for youth, available online at cottagetheatre.org or through the box office at 541-942-8001. All seating is reserved, and advance purchase is recommended; there will be a waiting list for sold-out performances.

 

Audriahna Jones and Aislinn Mirsch take the roles of Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and his cow, Milky White, in Into the Woods at Cottage Theatre.