Have you seen Disney’s Into The Woods? Well, it’s actually not Disney’s. Into The Woods is a fairy tale musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine premiered on Broadway in 1987.
Cast of Into The Woods Musical
Into The Woods will be presented in Manila in the garden amphitheater known as Kasalikasan, a tree-lined “living art piece” in the heart of BGC. It is one of the few instances of a venue providing the main inspiration for a show. “When we did Forbidden Broadway in Kasalikasan in May 2014, it was a huge success,” explains Joel Trinidad, Upstart founder and director of the piece. “So we started thinking about what other shows we could do here to really take advantage of this beautiful space.” The idea for Into The Woods came almost immediately. “We’ve always loved the musical,” shares Upstart Managing Director Onyl Torres, who does double duty as Vocal Coach for the present production. “So why not do it in the ‘actual’ woods?”
Besides Noel Trinidad and Rachel Alejandro, another way that this particular production will be unique is in its use of celebrity guests. “We’ll have a different one for each of the eight performances,” shares Torres. “But we won’t tell audiences who is performing when—it’ll be a surprise.” It is a strategy that Upstart has used before and is happy to use again. “When we did it for Forbidden Broadway, no one had ever done it before,” explains Trinidad. “Now, other theatre companies are doing the same thing!”
But after countless actors, countless directors, and countless productions all over the world — even Disney — does the musical have any surprises left for Manila audiences? Trinidad believes so. “There’s always something new to discover, something new to share,” explains Trinidad. “The material is just that good.”
If you loved the movie Into The Woods, I’m sure you’ll love the musical too. There are some characters and some songs which are not in the movie. When you remove a character in a story, the picture is incomplete. It’s just not the same picture. And I’d like to see the musical so I can at least understand the whole picture.
Source: Press Release
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