Cast & Creative Team Announced for INTO THE WOODS at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for the musical Into the Woods with music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The production will be directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner and will be the first of three Sondheim productions featured in Signature's 2022/23 season. Music Director Jon Kalbfleisch will conduct a 15-person orchestra using Jonathan Tunick's original orchestration. Performances run November 8, 2022 - January 29, 2023 in Signature's MAX Theatre. Tickets are available at SigTheatre.org.

Signature is known for reimagining beloved musicals, and this production of Into the Woods will deliver on that reputation, with the MAX Theatre transformed into a long-forgotten nursery of a once grand Victorian house in the woods.

"Into the Woods was one of the first musicals my parents introduced me to as a child" said Signature's Artistic Director and the Director of Into the Woods Matthew Gardiner. "Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical was a magical introduction to the theatre for me, and with each passing year this musical takes on new meaning, depth and importance in my life. As an adult, what resonates is a story about community and responsibility, the lessons (good and bad) we pass down from generation to generation, and the dangers of wishes fulfilled. It truly is a musical that speaks to all ages and at different moments in one's life in new ways. In every encounter with Sondheim and Lapine's wonderful musical, something new is discovered. While this isn't the first time our theatre has been transformed into this musical's enchanted forest, I can promise you it will be unlike any of the productions you've seen at Signature, or elsewhere, before. The creative team and I have set the production in an abandoned Victorian nursery, with crumbling plaster and overgrown vines. It's a space where nature has forced its way through the floorboards and windows to reclaim it, where swiftly growing weeds hide broken treasures and characters that once lived only in a child's fairytale book spin and weave around the space like apparitions from once upon a time."

"We're so excited to start rehearsals today for the first of three shows honoring the life and work of Stephen Sondheim," said Managing Director Maggie Boland. "With this production, Signature kicks off So Many Possibilities: A Season of Sondheim, a season-long tribute to Signature's signature, Stephen Sondheim. So Many Possibilities: A Season of Sondheim aims to expand the celebration beyond our shows to showcase the genius of Sondheim's music and lyrics and inspire and enrich the community. There will be many events this season to celebrate the composer. A few of them are Merrily We Sing Along, a chance for audiences to join in the fun; Into the Words, in-depth conversations about the genius of Sondheim's lyrics; an event for the composer's birthday; and many more. Stay tuned in the coming months as we announce all the events that will be a part of this exciting celebration."

Signature Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Passion, Sunday in the Park with George) directs and choreographs, and Jon Kalbfleisch (Signature's Assassins, A Little Night Music) is the Music Director.

The cast for Into the Woods includes Christopher Bloch (Signature's Assassins, Titanic) as the Narrator/Mysterious Man, Kurt Boehm (Signature's Assassins, Billy Elliot) as the Steward, Simone Brown (Kensington Arts Theatre's Sweeney Todd, Toby's Dinner Theatre's Rocky) as Rapunzel, Alex De Bard (Signature's RENT, Gun & Powder) as Little Red Riding Hood, Sherri L. Edelen (Signature's Gypsy, Sweeney Todd) as Jack's Mother, Crystal J. Freeman (Toby's Dinner Theatre's Ragtime, ArtsCentric's Dreamgirls) as Cinderella's Mother/Granny, Vincent Kempski (Signature's RENT, Assassins) as Cinderella's Prince/Wolf, Jake Loewenthal (Signature's She Loves Me, RENT) as The Baker, David Merino (Signature's RENT, La Jolla Playhouse's Lempicka) as Jack, Adelina Mitchell (Signature's Gun & Powder, Olney Theatre Center's The Music Man) as Florinda, Katie Mariko Murray (Signature's RENT, Passion) as Cinderella, Nova Y. Payton (Signature's The Color Purple, After Midnight) as The Witch, Lawrence Redmond (Signature's She Loves Me, Assassins) as Cinderella's Father, Maria Rizzo (Signature's She Loves Me, A Little Night Music) as Cinderella's Stepmother, Paul Scanlan (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles, Sunday in the Park with George) as Rapunzel's Prince, Erin Weaver (Signature's Company, The Last Five Years) as The Baker's Wife, and Chani Wereley (Olney Theatre Company's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Round House Theatre's Spring Awakening) as Lucinda. Drake Leach, Julia Wheeler Lennon, Dylan Toms and Casandra Victoria are swings.

The creative team for Into the Woods includes Scenic Design by Lee Savage (She Loves Me, Passion), Costume Design by David Israel Reynoso (Punchdrunk's Sleep No More, The Old Globe's Hair), Lighting Design by Amanda Zieve (Titanic, Billy Elliot), Sound Design by Eric Norris (Signature's Resident Sound Designer), Wig Design by Tommy Kurzman (Ain't Misbehavin', Broadway's Macbeth), and Make-up Design by Alison Samantha Johnson (Blackbeard, Cabaret). Chelsea Pace is the Resident Intimacy Consultant and Choreographer. Signature Casting is by Jorge Acevedo. Kerry Epstein is the Production Stage Manager, Julia Singer is the Assistant Stage Manager, Taylor Kiechlin is the Production Assistant, Clancey Yovanovich is the Associate Director, Casey Kaleba is the Fight Choreographer, Alexa Duimstra is the Assistant Costume Designer, Heather Hardin is the Assistant Wig Designer, Samantha Weiser is the Assistant Lighting Designer, and Carson Eubank is the Associate Music Director/Rehearsal Pianist.

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