Singing and Dancing in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” at Age 71
[Click To Enlarge Any Photo] |
It’s been a long time since I was in a musical, but when Little
Theatre Off Broadway [LTOB] in Grove City (a suburb of Columbus, Ohio) sent out
audition notices for Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine’s “Into the Woods” last
summer, my husband, David Vargo, suggested we should audition. We did so and were promptly cast: he as the
Big Bad Wolf (and also Cinderella’s Father) and me as the Mysterious Man. It was first time for us to be in a show
together, and that’s an experience we will always treasure.
Most of the very large cast (the Act Two finale had 21
people singing and dancing on stage!) were young people, many in their
twenties (four were still in high school, and the cow was played by an eleven
year-old), lots of them music majors or experienced singers. Sondheim’s music and lyrics are very complicated,
and we were singing to a pre-recorded orchestral score, so the whole thing was
quite a challenge. Indeed both David and
I were originally doubtful that LTOB could do a credible job of putting on this musical
masterpiece. But the director was Lisa
Cravens-Brown, who had so splendidly directed the last play I was in (“Seascape,”
also at LTOB), and the musical director was Bryn Sowash, who clearly knows her
stuff too, so we reserved judgment.
Little Red and the Wolf |
We each had a duet in the show, David as the Wolf meeting
Little Red Riding Hood (played splendidly by Bridget Harrington), and my
character with the Baker (played by the amazing Michael McElroy). David, a former professional actor, had a
terrific time as the Wolf, and his howl at the end of his duet when
anticipating eating both Little Red and her grandmother was a
crowd-pleaser. My duet was the song “No
More,” which is a lovely number, full of longing and regret as a father
comforts his son.
"No More" |
The duets were interesting, and I had a number of scenes
with funny dialogue, but the most challenging parts of the show were the two
finales, each of which involved complicated singing of complicated lyrics while
performing complicated dances. The
youngsters zipped through all of this, but it was more a struggle for David, and
most particularly for my 71 year-old self.
Fortunately I was almost always obscured by the other members of the
chorus when dancing, so no one (not even the director) noticed my mistakes, or, kindly,
at least no one said anything about my bumbling.
Act One Finale |
David and I threw the cast party (featuring the Whaley martini), and at one point the well-lubricated partygoers sang the following parody of the finale lyrics, which I had written in a moment of whimsy:
All:
Into
the woods we have to go
Cause
we’re the people in the show
Into
the woods, we’re mumbling low
(The
words are such a jumble)
Into
the woods, we’d like to stop
Backstage
we need a traffic cop
Into
the woods one final time
To hum
. . . to rhyme
To
Sond . . . to Heim
To
James . . . Lapine
Into
the woods
To
hell with the woods
We’re
doing “Wicked” next time!
Cinderella:
Popular!
On Christmas Day the movie version of “Into the Woods” hits
the theaters. It stars Meryl Streep as
the Witch and Johnny Depp as the Wolf.
Our LTOB cast is planning a mass visit to see some performance of the
movie together, which should be great fun.
The trailer can be seen at http://movies.disney.com/into-the-woods/video.
Readers of my blog may remember
that I judge most of life’s experiences by what I call “The Deathbed Test,”
[see http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/07/deathbed-test.html],
which asks what memories will cause you to either slap your head with dismay or
grin from ear to ear. This wonderful
production of “Into the Woods” easily fits into the latter category. Many thanks to the entire cast and crew for a
terrific memory! David and I love you
all.
Cast and Crew |
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Related Posts:
“Douglas Whaley, Actor,” August 14, 2010
"Directing 'Closure'," June 5, 2010
“I Am an 89 Year-Old Russian Jew,” January 31, 2011
“Another Opening, Another Show: Doug is in ‘Hamlet,’” April 29,
2011
“Acting Crazy: Doug in a New Show,” October 25, 2012
“On Stage Again: Acting in Edward Albee’s “Seascape,”
February 26, 2014
“A Guide to
the Best of My Blog”: http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html
Sure wish Lisa and I could have seen this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post and full of memories! Love you guys and had so much fun!
ReplyDelete