‘INTO THE WOODS’
Musical explores real-world issues through famous fairy tales
East Carolina University students will perform “Into the Woods,” a musical that intertwines several fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, Nov. 20 through Nov. 24 in McGinnis Auditorium.
The plot involves a baker and his wife who must find four items to break the curse placed upon them by a witch.
The story of “Into the Woods” revolves around a baker and his wife who are attempting to have a child but due to a curse placed by a witch, they cannot have a child and must venture into the woods in search of four items to break the curse.
The fairy tales featured are “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Director Bryan Conger, ECU assistant professor of directing and acting, said the play is about how there are no absolutes, but also about generations and relating to real-world issues.
“In this play, not everyone is absolutely good or absolutely bad,” Conger said. “Bad people can do good things and good people can do bad things.”
Conger said the play shows that the only way to move forward is to respect and honor each other and to learn how to be a community.
Senior Mila Bolash, who plays the witch, said that preparing for her role proved rigorous.
“We rehearse every night from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday,” Bolash said. “Our stage week typically goes later than that and we go 10 out of the 12 hours that we are in the space on Sunday.”
Junior Gabrielle Goodman, who plays the baker’s wife, said that the way she and her fellow students rehearsed for the play helped them gain a better understanding of their characters.
“Mr. Conger did a table read where we all get together and read through the script, scene by scene, and he would stop and talk about the implications of each scene and the character’s decisions,” Goodman said. “It helped us dig deeper to know more about the characters that we are portraying.”
Conger said there is a song in the musical called “Children Who Listen,” which shows how things adults say and do around children have a huge impact on the next generation.
“I also want people to be entertained by the play. It’s a great story that will make you laugh and cry at some points,” Conger said. “As a director, I think that’s as equally important in a play as sending a message is making sure the audience enjoys the play, and it’s up to the audience on how they choose to respond to the work.”
Bolash encouraged people to see the play. “It is a very realistic portrayal of what is currently going on in the world today and a good thing to make the audience think about,” Bolash said.
Tickets are $17.50 for the public and $10 for students. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20-22 and 2 p.m. Nov. 23-24. For more information, visit https://theatredance.ecu.edu/2019-season/.