Journey Over: Post-ITW

Into the Woods closed and struck yesterday. It was my first show with this theatre company, and I served as scenic designer as well as cast member. What a wild, wonderful journey!

The rehearsal schedule was a little ridiculous at times--at one point I swore I'd never do a Carnegie show again--but the end result made the effort worthwhile. It was a kick-booty show, truly. I got to work with a few old friends again, and lots of new ones, all of whom brought a very respectable amount of talent to that stage. Just look at all this talent:

Honestly, we had an amazing cast. Wonderful actors drove in from far and yon to be a part of this show, and every last person was perfect in their role, from the smallest dwarf, to the expressive cow to Rapunzel and the Witch. On a side note, playing Cinderella's Stepmother was a bit of a personal challenge for me--her vocals aren't in my 'comfort zone' (I'm a belty mezzo and Stepmother is not, lol). And it took me a while to 'find' her character, figure out why she said the things she did, particularly in the second act--the bits not in the familiar fairy tales. But a shout-out to Meagan and Janae, who played my daughters Florinda and Lucinda, both for being patient with me and for having to play blind for half the show.

I am especially proud of the scenic elements in this show. Much of it was a collaboration between four creative (and sometimes clashing) minds, with very satisfying results. I've written a separate blog post with lots more set pics, you can find that here. Combined with the lighting effects, the set looked fabulous! I got to experiment with new media, and more importantly, I got to work with Josh, who helped both at home and on set. Win!