Mikyla Bergman, who plays the Witch in the upcoming musical production of Into the Woods Jr. is really enjoying rapping for one of her scenes.
“It was fun to speak the words rather than sing them. The rap is kind of describing the main part of the play. In my garden my beans get stolen and I put a curse on the Baker’s house!” said the Nelson Waldorf School Class 8 student, who will be performing at the Capitol Theatre along with all her enthusiastic classmates on June 4 at 2 and 7 p.m.
The school is excited to be presenting this enchanting and humorous musical fairytale that combines the classic Brothers Grimm stories and features some of our favourite characters: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
Tanya Thayer, the students’ teacher and director, emphasized how this performance has brought together skills that the students have learned through-out their years at school: their ability to focus, overcome challenges, collaborate as a group and combine the performing arts of music, dance and acting that are an integral part of their Nelson Waldorf education.
She described how the visual style of the musical’s costumes came about.
“My daughter Bethany, (who plays Jack’s Mother and has also become the artistic director), was sketching pictures last summer of the costumes in a steampunk style? When I saw this I said ‘What is that?’ I had not heard of steampunk before. The combination of the heavy, industrial feel with the lighter side of corseted lace dresses and tailored suits worked perfectly to visually express the story.”
Rayne Loeppky, who is playing the Baker’s Wife, described her costume as “really hard to put on, but I really like the steampunk look. It’s pretty cool and we played around with a lot of different stuff, like metal pieces, when we made them.”
Alex Murray and Relmu Wilson-Valdes, who play Rapunzel’s Prince and Cinderella’s Prince, find their characters amusing. Murray said the Prince “is a pretty charismatic guy. He fits how I like to act and is really funny to play.”
Shaenna Young, the musical’s choreographer and class teaching assistant, used different styles of dance for different scenes.
“The Wolf scene is a kind of staged jazz piece that’s playful and the Witch scene is more of a hip-hop dance, with the other pieces being very theatrical.”
Théo Lincourt, the musical’s stage manager, said this has given him the opportunity to learn how to “take care of the cues for lighting and sound among other things, and although it’s a big responsibility, it’s very exciting too.”
If you bring the whole family you’ll find out how the Baker and his wife break the Witch’s curse in this dramatic and humorous musical fairytale.