You can decide whether the latest Players Theatre offering measures up, but remember, the hardworking cast, crew, set builders, musicians, committee and front of house, hair, make-up, costume and producers are all volunteers, and mostly amateurs.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Into The Woods has been receiving some excellent audience reaction with the gruelling rehearsal schedule and many hours of music practice showing on stage.
Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning family musical was brought to the big screen in 2014, starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and Johnny Depp.
Stepping into the roles in Port Macquarie, is a wonderful cast including some Players’ favourites and a few fresh faces. All are shepherded through the demanding Sondheim musical by director Tim Gibbs and musical director Lindsay Kaul.
“This show has certainly been one of the most complex musicals I have been involved with,” Gibbs says.
“It was important to get a strong cast together to tell the story and I feel that this cast is certainly one of the most professional I have worked with in a very long time.”
Patrons will delight in seeing Players’ regulars, sisters Erin McCudden as Cinderella, Cherie Kershaw as Rapunzel and their mum Lyn Turner as Jack’s mother.
Audiences should also keep an eye out for some of the great new talent discovered for this show.
Charlotte Schrader, 13, brings a feisty and hungry Red Riding Hood to life “with one of the best young voices I have ever heard,” says director Gibbs.
Jordan Frith’s dozy cow steals the show with its blissful ignorance, and Cate Storen, who has the difficult task of stepping into the role of the power hungry witch performed by Streep in the movie, “brings a new vision of the witch to the stage with great characterisation and vocal prowess”, according to Gibbs.
Inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairytales, the story follows the baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to go to the kings festival to find her Prince Charming, and Jack, who wishes his cow would give some milk. When the baker and his wife are visited by the village’s wicked witch she reveals a curse has been placed on their family. So the pair set off Into The Woods to reverse the curse.
“The cast has risen to the challenge to create a feast for the ears as well as the eyes.”
Audiences are treated to a fantasy forest experience from the moment they enter the auditorium. Designer Tim Ronan has created a very engaging essence with atmospheric lighting and sound effects that enhance the telling of the story.
“We have also been lucky to find some of the best musicians in our region to create a 10-piece live orchestra to bring the musical magic to life,” Gibbs says.
