Theatre and Dance to present musical ‘Into the Woods’

The Department of Theatre & Dance will present a new production of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods” April 20 through May 1 in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

Performance times are 7:30 p.m. April 20, 21 and 23; 2 p.m. April 24; 7:30 p.m. April 28, 29 and 30; and 2 p.m. April 30 and May 1. There is no performance on April 22.

Tickets are $20 for general admission and $10 for students from any school and seniors, and are available at the Center for the Arts box office and at tickets.com. 

This UB production features a live orchestra and new sets, lights and costumes. Nathan R. Matthews, associate professor of theatre and dance and director of music theatre and theatre performance, serves as director and musical director of the production. Dance senior Juliana Willey is the choreographer.

The cast and designers include theatre and dance students Leah Berst, Selina Iozzo, Tommy MacDonnell, Megan McNiffe, Ashley Moulin, Sean Ryan and Paul E. Urriola.

With music and lyrics by Sondheim from the book by James Lapine, “Into the Woods” is one of the world’s most loved musicals. The show opened on Broadway in 1987 and won three Tony Awards, including Best Original Score. Since then, it has continued to play worldwide and was made into a feature film in 2014 that received three Academy Award nominations.

“Into the Woods” follows well-loved fairy tale characters as they seek their happy endings and continues their adventures beyond the expected “and they lived happily ever after” ending.

UB’s production explores the fairy tale of the American dream and takes a journey into the late 1950s and early 1960s, the “once upon a time” of “Camelot,” the Kennedy presidency and American icons Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.