By Devon Armor
University of Maryland student-run musical theater group 32 Bars presented the musical “Into the Woods” in the Memorial Chapel on Friday and Saturday.
James Lapine’s 1986 play adapts four classical stories from “Grimms’ Fairy Tales,” but with a more jarring and complex ending.
The musical featured characters from “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” Characters from the four stories work together to help a baker and his wife lift an infertility curse a witch has placed on them.
The plot follows their quest to find what Helena Cruickshank, who plays the witch, says is “a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn and a slipper as pure as gold.”
At the end of act one, the musical act “Ever After” showcases the supposed “long and happy life ever after” that the characters are to live. The baker and his wife have found all four items the witch asks for, she lifts the curse, and the duo are able to start their family.
The second act counters the first as the “happy life ever after” begins to fade. The latter half of the performance deals with the consequences of the characters’ actions, as a vengeful giant threatens the characters life after Jack kills her husband in act one.
“My favorite part is the contrast, because act one in itself is such, it’s a happy tale. You see everything comes with a happy resolution, and act two is just so the opposite,” said sophomore show director Jenna Gilman.
The contrast between the two acts meant that the performers had to quickly adapt their own emotions as well.
“There’s only one moment of happiness. It’s kind of, like, now we have a baby, now we’re happy,” said sophomore criminology and criminal justice major Abi Torres, who plays the baker’s wife. “And then it’s … very sad, and it’s just kind of like preparing to tell a story really well, honestly.”
The musical utilized the features of UMD Memorial Chapel’s Main Chapel room. The cast performing throughout the pews and walkway of the chapel supported audience engagement. The play also imitated Rapunzel’s tower, portraying it using the upper level of the chapel’s seating.
“It’s a little jarring. I was not expecting that at all. I was not expecting, like, so much audience participation, but it was very, it was very engaging,” said 19-year-old Ana Milburn, who attended the performance to watch her friend Jazzy Dong, who played Milky White.
Once Gilman, a psychology and communications major, was asked to direct the performance, she knew utilizing the chapel was something she “needed” to do. The musical theater group’s preparation for “Into the Woods” consisted of a six-week time frame, where the cast was able to practice in the chapel pews and halls in the final week.
“We were in rooms like the [Reckord] Armory, which has the big lecture halls with rows. So we got used to that, and we just had to remember when our exits were,” Torres said.
The musical also had a live orchestra, which the crew worked with for two weeks before opening day.
“It’s so amazing seeing the cast go from working with the tracks to an orchestra, and also the use of the chapel,” Gilman said. “Now they actually are in the space we need to be, and it’s so cool seeing the whole theater, feeling like a woods coming to life.”
The show concluded with the characters defeating the giant who threatens them in the second act. The finale of the show included the whole cast singing throughout the pews in the chapel, striving to transport the audience “Into the Woods” one last time.
Featured Image: Claire Martin, Abi Torres, and Jazzy Dong perform in act one of “Into the Woods” on April 18. Photo by Devon Armor.