Into The Woods: Review

This year’s high school production was the musical Into The Woods. Directed by chorus teacher Bill Podoski, this three hour long musical was “well worth the wait,” 8th grader Sophie Miller said.

Into The Woods follows the story of a young baker (Isaiah Royal ‘25) and his wife (Meredith Lawler ‘25) as they embark on a quest to lift a curse and fulfill their dream of having a child. Their neighbor, the witch that cursed them (Charlotte Keshap ‘25), promises to lift the spell that is preventing them from having a child if they go into the woods and bring her back four magical items: the cow as white as milk, the hair as yellow as corn, the cape as red as blood, and the slipper as pure as gold. Along their journey, they come across many different characters from all over the fairytale world.

When asked how this production compared to others in the past, Hope Lambert, theater teacher and Technical Director of Into The Woods, said that “it was certainly more challenging than other productions we’ve pulled of in the past…last year the high school musical was Chicago which had a run time of 90 minutes, Into The Woods has a run time of two and a half hours, without intermission. The additional run time certainly added an additional challenge.”

The breathtaking production was accompanied by live music from professional musicians and H-B band and orchestra students.

On a musical note, Bill told us that “not only was Into The Woods difficult to perform from the perspective of time, it was also musically challenging.” The musical consisted of 18 songs in the first act alone, and 30 overall.

I almost left after the first act because to me it felt like it had already ended, a sentiment shared by several other audience members. However, it was a nice surprise when I found out there was a second act. To me, it seemed like the second act served as a sequel that wasn’t necessary for the plot but gave the story a more rounded feel.

The story was very full circle, with each event leading into another unexpected turn. The music was also wonderful and I thought that the live band was a nice touch. Overall, I really enjoyed this year’s high school production of Into The Woods. It was executed well and had plot twists that had the viewers on their toes throughout the show. I would rate it 5/5 stars.