The Price of a Dream: DePauw presents “Into the Woods”

Cast members (from left) Kelli O’Neill (Baker’s Wife), Elise Martinez (Cinderella), Cameron Foster (Narrator), Cole Stephen (Baker) and Caitlyn Summers (Little Red Riding Hood) lead DePauw University’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” in four performances, Sept. 26–29, at the Green Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets to the musical are available at the GCPA box office, beginning one hour before each performance, and through Eventbrite, the Center’s online box office: dpugreencenter.eventbrite.com.

Courtesy photo/MOE KIKUCHI

“Once upon a time” begins many a well-known fairy tale, as well as DePauw Theatre’s 2024–25 season-opening production of “Into the Woods.”

The Tony award-winning musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, brings together many beloved characters from fairy tales originally collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century. The musical became an instant American theatrical classic after its Broadway debut in 1987.

The DePauw University production, a collaboration between the Department of Communication and Theatre and the Institute of Music, runs Thursday through Saturday evenings, Sept. 26–28 at 7:30 p.m., and closes on Sunday, Sept. 29 with a 3 p.m. matinee. All performances are in Moore Theatre in the Green Center for the Performing Arts on the DePauw campus.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and are free for all students, including for non-DePauw students, and are available online through Eventbrite and at the GCPA box office, beginning one hour before each performance.

The 1986 premiere of Into the Woods at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego marked the second collaboration between composer-lyricist Sondheim and playwright-director Lapine during which the duo devised a unique story intertwining several fairy tales such as “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel.” Inspired by his childhood experience with an abandoned father and a troubled mother, Sondheim’s lyrics explore the themes of parent-child relationships, individual responsibility and the consequences of wish fulfillment.

Underlying its dark comedic tone, the story simultaneously provides valuable life lessons about making dreams come true. With a captivating narrative and music, “Into the Woods” endured the test of time, earning a Broadway revival in 2022. 

Behind the scenes at DePauw, a cast of 27 students is collaborating with the center’s artistic and production teams to mount this large-scale fantasy. Artistic staff for “Into the Woods” includes Caroline Good (director), Orcenith Smith (music director), Deborah Grammel (choreographer), Jaye Beetem (set and lighting designer), as well as student contributors Chi Nguyen (costume designer), Jenna Reynolds (assistant director) and Miranda Bognar (production stage manager). 

Good, whose recent directing credits include “Romeo and Juliet at Bridgerton” and “The Seagull,” also teaches theater at DePauw and has creatively used fairy tales in her teaching and in her work with the Children’s Theatre Workshop at the Putnam County Playhouse.

Directing “Into the Woods” with a talented, positive and hard-working cast has been a joy for Good. She loves collaborating with the actors, honoring their interpretations of the characters and valuing their insight into the complex relationships.

“‘Into the Woods’ offers interesting explorations into the deeper inner workings of the characters,” Good observed. “Lapine and Sondheim’s perspectives on Cinderella is especially interesting — she doesn’t necessarily wish for a prince but simply to go to the ball, whereas the Baker and Baker’s Wife will go to desperate means in order to have a child. All the famous characters in the separate tales then collide in the woods, and the way they interact with each other is fascinating.”