After one week’s heated audition, the cast for Williston’s spring theater production, Into the Woods, was officially announced on Thursday night, December 7.

Into the Woods, a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, interprets several famous fairy tales from a refreshing angle by exploring the interactions among characters from different stories. Some main characters include Jack from “Jack and the Beanstalk,” Cinderella from “Cinderella,” Witch, and Rapunzel.

The musical first premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987, and has won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical(Joanna Gleason).

In the cast announcement, the narrator will be played by Robby Hill 19′; Cinderella will be played by Victoria Zingarelli 18′; Jack will be played by Caleb Stern 19′; and Rapunzel will be played by Caroline Channell 18′. There are another 16 roles all going to be acted by outstanding students. Moreover, Risa Tapanes 18′ takes the job of Stage Manager, along with junior Maddie Elsea being the Assistant Director and senior A’Kayla Williams being the Dance Captain.

The overall audition process took four days. Emily Ditkovski, the theater director at Williston, said: “For a musical, you have to audition for a musician, for an actor, and for a dancer. So, one night is dedicated to acting, one night is dedicated to singing, and one night is dedicated to dancing.”

She continued: “The last night is call back, which is just another chance for the people to act in particular roles. It is important for a musical that you can do all three. You don’t have to do all three perfectly in high school; now, we are just looking for two out of three and try to work around with it.”

According to Ditkovski, this musical involves less dancing, yet really challenging music. The composer for this musical, Sondheim, uses songs as like a playwriter uses monologues and scenes.

“It’s really challenging to audition for the show. A lot of people have done it a lot of times; some of them have been working with me since their middle school. Some kids have done a lot of theater out of school. Some kids have never done it before,” said Ditkovski. “It is just such a nerve-racking experience for any of them. I try to use humor to make people feel comfortable. We never want any new member to feel they don’t fit in.”

The musical is also going to have a fifteen person orchestra. Hired professionals will be playing the music along with a few student musicians.

Maddie Elsea is going to be the assistant direction for Into the Woods. “I am incredibly excited for this year’s production of Into the Woods; the cast is a group of brilliant, talented, and kind students and I think they’re going to collaborate in a really amazing way.”

Maddie continued: “The process will likely be a grueling one, as the musical is incredibly complex and layered, but I’m fully confident that Emily will be able to pull it off.” She said: “I was in the ensemble of Peter and the Starcatcher last year, and for those who saw it or participated in it, they know that it was a crazy, magical, chaotic play full of make-believe and puppetry and lots of other crazy things that were brought to life by the artistic direction of Emily Ditkovski, Charles Raffetto, and Ashley Tyler.”

“I can’t wait to be on the other side of the process and work with all the wonderful actors in this production, and I highly recommend that everyone comes to see it in the spring! It’s going to be an awesome show,” said Maddie.

Behind the scene, the students involved in tech theater and costume shop are also busy preparing for the show. Right now, the students are working on the wig for Rapunzel, an incredible project ready to amaze the school in spring. Freshmen Noel Song 21′ is new to costume shop and super passionate about musicals: “I’m really looking forward to the musical. I can’t wait to see all the costumes on stage.”