The FHS play is a popular school event, put on by the Playcrafters, twice every school year. The first play that is put on is a musical, full of singing and dancing, and it is always a really fun event to attend. Into The Woods, this year’s musical, combines many characters and many different plots into its own unique story.

The shows leads are the Witch (Sabrina Remusat), the Baker (Johnny Doty) and his wife (Allison Zimmerman), Jack (Vitale Yenzer), Little Red Riding Hood (Leigh Corrado),  Cinderella (Ashley Deschamps), Evil Step-Mother (Emily O’Flynn),  Rapunzel (Leslie Sattler) and the two princes (Adam Ruben and Tyler Abramowitz). The hard work began in early September; the play has many moving parts including sound, lighting, hair and makeup, and costume crew. The amount of effort put into the show is amazing. “Tech Week” normally lasts for two weeks and kids stay past 8:00 to rehearse. Students go through rehearsal after rehearsal for one weekend of performing. The band and orchestra in the pit provide the music. The pit is made up of 20 or so kids from the music department volunteering their time to help the show; the pit consists of two violins, a viola, two cellos, and two bass players,while the band is made up of two french horns, a trumpet player, a flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, and three percussionists.  The pit is run by Mr. Kozlowski and he and Mrs. Mischke spend hours going through the show making sure everything is in order and ready for opening night.

Into The Woods includes five different stories: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and a unique story about a Witch who puts a spell on a Baker and his wife (a couple who have no children) for them to never be able to have the child they want. The story begins with the original fairytale storylines—the couple seeking out the ingredients to reverse the spell, Cinderella going to the ball, Jack going to sell his cow, Milky White, Little Red Riding Hood going to her grandmother’s house, and Rapunzel being stuck in her tower. There is also a Mysterious Man who shows up when characters are in a time of need. The Baker and the Baker’s wife need to give the Witch four ingredients to reverse the curse: the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold. Along the way, the characters help the couple get the ingredients they need. Each story follows its own storyline, while interfering with the others, both helping and hurting each other’s stories.

The story is filled with many ups and downs and we discover things as the characters do. Watching five different storylines intertwine and all connect in some way keeps this play interesting and exciting. Once one thing happens in one story, it will affect another. By the end of the play, each story has changed drastically due to the others. There is a lot that happens all at once, but that is what keeps the audience so intrigued and on the edge of their seats.  

Plays are always fun and exciting things to see, and Into The Woods definitely lives up to the expectations of a great performance. Even though this year’s musical is over, there is another play (“the straight show”) put on later in the school year. They are definitely worth going to see because of all the hard work and effort so many people—from directors to actors and actresses, from pit orchestra to the backstage crews—put in to make the show the best it can be. Into The Woods was truly a fun and exciting event.

* photo via Google Images under the Creative Commons license