![]() ![]() After what we have all experienced over the last few years, that seems to be the most perfect story for this moment. Sondheim is known to have said that Into the Woods is a play about starting out by acting selfishly, then learning to act as a community. I hope you discover something about yourself or something about the world that you haven’t considered before. Whether this is your first viewing of this musical, or you know all of the lyrics by heart, I hope that something touches you tonight. This felt like the perfect entry point for seeing a story that so many of us are so familiar with, but in a brand new way. I thought of some of my own family stories-moments that I see so differently now as an adult. I started to think about how our understanding of stories changes as we age. My personal encounters with Into the Woods all came flooding back to me when I was first approached about directing this production. We see something different in it and ourselves everytime we encounter it. As you grow and change, his work grows and changes with you, to give you something more. It has so many layers that you always hear it differently, depending on where you are in your life. This is one of the things that makes the work of Stephen Sondheim so special: It ages with you. And then, when I found out I was pregnant, I found myself listening to Bernadette Peters sing “Children Will Listen” on repeat. It was a beautiful reminder of all the reasons my marriage worked, at just the moment when I needed to hear it. Years later, I saw a summer stock production that a friend of mine was working on, and this time, I was moved to tears by “It Takes Two,” for the opposite reasons. After watching act two, however-spoiler alert!-I was completely convinced was the worst, and that I was way better off without him anyway. “Why doesn’t he love me like that?” I wanted to know. It was touching, moving, and utterly exhilarating. I was going through a dramatic breakup (the way you do in theater school), and I still remember that first time hearing the Princes’ rendition of “Agony” in act one. My first encounter with Sondheim of any kind was Into the Woods, when I was a freshman in college. Now, please sit back and enjoy this gem of the American theater, which entertains us, provokes us, endears us, and reminds us-as only Sondheim could-that “nice is different than good.” And I would be remiss not to mention our designers and Performance Services staff, who work tirelessly to support, enhance, and enrich the hundreds of productions, recitals, and performances that are central to the Conservatory experience, across our divisions. We have been honored to collaborate again with our brilliant Berklee College of Music colleague, music director and conductor Eric Stern, whose decades of experience on the Broadway and international stage is a gift to our community. This extraordinary cast, orchestra, and crew have applied the work in their classrooms, studios, and practice spaces to this production, under the meticulous direction and guidance of faculty member Bevin O’Gara. Year after year, the Theater Division is named one of the preeminent training programs in the country, and you are about to see why. Yet, the music-the way in which the characters both describe the action of the play and reveal existential truths in real time-is the hallmark of a titan of the craft.Īt the heart of everything we do at the Conservatory is the cultivation and celebration of our student artists. The stories, based loosely on folk and fairy tales, are widely known all over the world. So, too, exists the masterpiece you will see tonight, Into the Woods. įor many of us, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (who died last year at 91) was both an artistic giant whose contributions to American musical theater are endless, and a familiar old friend whose words and music live vibrantly within our subconscious. On behalf of the Theater Division and the entire Boston Conservatory at Berklee community, I am thrilled to welcome you to our final faculty-directed production of the 2022–2023 academic year, Into the Woods. ![]()
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