West Branch to stage 'Into the Woods Jr.'

West Branch High School’s Drama Department will present a show that currently is experiencing a revival on Broadway.

Under the direction of Krista Clay, student performers will appear Thursday through Sunday in “Into the Woods Jr.”

The musical by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. In 2014, a Disney film adaptation directed by Rob Marshall and starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski and Johnny Depp was released.

A narrator leads the audience through "The Prologue," as it learns about a series of wishes that are more important than life itself to the characters. Cinderella wants to go to the King's Festival; Jack wishes his cow could give milk; and the Baker, who believes his parents were killed in a baking accident, wishes he and his wife could have a child.

As the characters express their wishes, the audience meets Cinderella's Stepmother and Stepsisters, who laugh at the idea of her going to a ball; Jack's mother, who wishes for a lot of gold and a less-foolish son; and Little Red Riding Hood, who comes to buy bread, sticky buns and pies from the Baker and his wife before starting her journey into the woods to see her sick grandmother.

The cast includes Devin McKean as the Baker, Brooklyn Horner as the Baker’s wife, Haley Close as Cinderella, Cami Reichenbach, Alaina Schluneker and Charity Glista as the wicked step family, Mason Brown and Lucas Dyke as the Stewards, Ava Parris as Rapunzel, Peter Blanchard as Jack, Ella Scofinsky as the witch, Kate Slutz as the transformed witch, Morgan Brown as Jack’s mother, Christian Mikol as Cinderella’s prince, Croesus Brock as Rapunzel’s prince, Gavin Clay as the narrator, Jude Corallo as Cinderella’s father, Owen Hoopes as the big bad woolf, Alli Kanagy as Little Red Ridinghood, Ari Aldridge as Granny and Wyatt Courtwright as the Mysterious Man. A small chorus also joins the cast at the end of the production in a fun dance number.

Joe Courtwright and Kevin Hoopes designed and built the set.

The show will run 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday; and 3 p.m. Nov. 12 in the West Branch High School Community Auditorium. There will be no Saturday performance due to football playoff games.

Tickets are available at wbmusic.org or by calling the box office at 330-938-2183, ext. 37358. All seats are reserved and are $10 for students and senior citizens, and $12 for adults. There will also be tickets available at the door.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: West Branch to stage 'Into the Woods Jr.'