We did Into the Woods last spring. Some thoughts that are completely out of order:
1) We actually had quite a bit of dancing, but our student choreographers are ruthless, and left no opportunity untouched :)
2) I contacted MTI early about gender-swapping both Jack and the Witch (we had an amazing young man who would have killed at the role, but then time didn’t allow him to participate). They said that it was okay to have the opposite gender play the part, but that we couldn’t change pronouns or make Jack “Jackie” or anything like that.
3) Having the narrator be female is problematic unless you split the narrator and the mysterious man (which we did with permission), as the mysterious man turns out to be the Baker’s father, and it’s a pretty critical role for character development, so making her his mother doesn’t work. The narrator starts “Ever After,” which is REALLY LOW. If you take it up the octave for a girl, then it’s REALLY HIGH. It’s also some of the hardest rhythm in the show, so it should be someone who can follow tempo well. Our narrator was not the best singer, and we tried to have him “talk sing” at one point. It worked okay, but he wasn’t comfortable with it and just sang it.
4) We chose to do the alternate version of “Hello Little Girl” with two wolves and the 3 little pigs. We had one male and one female wolf. It worked brilliantly. We chose this because we wanted to take the sexual tone of that song out as much as possible. With the pigs, it made it clear that the wolves were looking for food.
5) There are tracks available through MT Pit. They are NOT cheap, but they are phenomenal in quality. We got many comments from people who thought we were hiding an orchestra in an invisible pit about how they couldn’t believe students could play THAT WELL. You just have to get used to the fact that the tracks are split (The Prologue alone was in something like 14 pieces) so that all of the transitions and underscoring are there. It was SO hard for the kids to get the hang of the tracks. Also, with MT Pit, you can get rehearsal tracks that anyone in the production can access, but there is an annoying voice once every minute or so that says “REHEARSAL” over the music. The full production tracks can only be downloaded to two devices. We put them on my iPad and our sound designer’s computer.
6) You would have to get permission from MTI to cut anything. We tried and they said no, that if we didn’t want the whole show, we should do the Jr. version, which cuts act two (and the whole theme of “Be careful what you wish for” as well as the familial resolutions for the Baker and his dad and Rapunzel and the Witch. And cutting “No More,” as they did in the movie version, is a crime against theatre, punishable by having a 3 year old hopped up on caffeine in your front row. Or maybe that’s just me :)
7) You will need at least 19 people to do the show, and the only “easier” singing parts are the stepfamily. The steward, Cinderella’s father, Granny, the Giant, and Milky White (if you make her a person...we did...it was brilliant. We also had the same actress playing all 3).
8) And, as you already know...this show is loooooooong. At our best pace, with intermission, we were pushing 2 hours and 45 minutes.
All of that said, Into the Woods had been on my directing bucket list, and I’m glad we did it.
Original Message------
I am at a small-ish school and I am trying to figure out which musical to do for Spring.
I really have my heart set on Into the Woods. The kids love it, there is no dancing(I am a choir teacher), and I feel the set and costumes would be relatively easy to figure out.
Can anyone shed light on these issues:
1. I have very few guys. I know I can make the Big Bad Wolf female. Does the narrator have to be male, and does he/she have to sing? Has anyone ever made Jack a female?
2. I know the music isn't easy, but what has been your experience with it? Also, does it have a full performance accompaniment CD?
3. Can I cut anything from the show to make it shorter?
Also, if anyone has suggestions for other shows please let me know! I only had around 20 people audition last year, but that show went really well so hopefully I will get more people this year.
Thanks!
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Sara GiambalvoVocal Music DirectorSpeech and Debate Coach, Theatre Manager
Herculaneum High School, Senn-Thomas Middle School
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