Five things to know before you go UA theater's production of 'Into the Woods'

The University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance will present "Into the Woods." The production of the musical will be performed in the Marian Gallaway Theatre, Rowand-Johnson Hall on campus, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and April 20-22, closing with a 2 p.m. matinee April 23.

Here are five things to know before you go:

• Origin: A musical by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (book), based on the question of what comes after "ever after."

• Characters: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack of beanstalk fame, Little Red Riding Hood, a lecherous wolf, two shallow princes, a giant and his wife (more heard than seen), a witch who may not be wicked, a baker and baker's wife, a mysterious narrator, and others from fairytales and children's stories.

• Plot: Characters set out with goals in mind, including attending a king's festival, making it to grandmother's house alive, escaping a tower, having a baby .... The witch vows to lift a curse if she's brought "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." Many get what they want, or some version of it, but the second act digs deeper, asking if they're now truly fulfilled.

• Audiences: Though it's full of kid's lit characters, they're played by and as adults, with the sometime exceptions of Jack and Red. Implied subject matter — infertility, infidelity, jealousy, lust, revenge, consequences — is more adult than not. Among its sung ideas: "Careful what you wish for," and "You decide what's right/You decide what's good."

• Why it's familiar: It's been produced before in Tuscaloosa, by UA back in 2007, and by Theatre Tuscaloosa in 2002. It was also adapted into a 2014 movie with Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, James Corden and others, though that film cut and changed significant things from the stage work. Chuck Wagner, a former UA theater student, originated the role of Rapunzel's Prince in the 1987 Broadway debut. He recently visited the cast and crew of this production for a workshop.

How to get tickets

Tickets are $22 general; $20 for seniors, and UA faculty and staff; $15 for students. See www.theatre.ua.edu/box-office, or visit the office in Rowand-Johnson Hall, open noon-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, and before the shows.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Five things to know about UA's production of 'Into the Woods'