SARASOTA -- Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, a baker and his wife, and Jack (with and without his beanstalk) are venturing back "Into the Woods."
Students in the theater program at Booker High School's Visual and Performing Arts Center are presenting the Stephen Sondheim musical, while the Tony Award-winning revival runs on Broadway.
The show by Sondheim and James Lapine takes familiar characters from Grimm's fairy tales and sends them into the woods to get something. But along the way, they learn that there are consequences for their actions and that "dreams come true, not free."
"This show is crammed with life-issues," said Julie Kilpatrick, who plays an original character, the baker's wife. She and her husband, the baker (played by Huck Walton), kick things off by trying to reverse a witch's curse that prevents them from having a child.
Walton is playing the same role his father, Blake Walton, performed five years ago in a production at the Players Theatre of Sarasota.
Both were staged by Scott Keys, a drama instructor for the VPA program.
Keys said he teaches parts of "Into the Woods" for lessons on point of view. "The kids really seem to take to it."
The production, which Keys said is the most elaborate of several he has staged of "Into the Woods," features a cast of 19. The student orchestra will include 16 musicians.
Clio Mason, who plays Cinderella, said she has wanted to appear in the musical since she first saw it.
"Sondheim is my God. His music is very challenging, which I love," said Mason, who played Maria in last year's "West Side Story." "There's so much more in his music than in a lot of other musicals. And you can really relate to the characters and have something to play."
Justin Clement, who plays Cinderella's Prince and the wolf who haunts Red Riding Hood, said the show is perfect for a high-school setting.
"It teaches that you have to go through bad selections to learn. Like the woods are the place where you learn, in high school, you have to go through a lot to learn things," he said.
