More Assorted Emotions/Thoughts That Were Experienced During Into The Woods:
I really wasn’t expecting Cinderella to be as emotionally grueling a role as it ended up being for me, since while she does go through some pretty hard stuff there isn’t really anything particularly gut wrenching asked of the performer. However I SEVERELY underestimated the sheer sustained state of stress required by Act 2 of this show, especially the way I was playing Cinderella in particular as someone who is very anxious and hard on herself. Not to mention that we did a version of the show where the whole cast is onstage the ENTIRE time, so you don’t have any breaks where you can come down. The sheer adrenaline of it basically ends up convincing your body that the world is ending and it’s all your fault, which took a greater toll on me than I expected it to, and I learned a lot about how to give myself grace in the days following the show.
Into the Woods was my first show ever with a live orchestra, and since we staged it with the cast onstage the whole time, that meant I got to sit RIGHT in front of the string section and really gain a new appreciation for just how energetic and intricate Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations were. Giants in the Sky in particular always got me- it’s never even been one of my favorite songs in the show but GOD if those strings don’t just make you feel like you’re soaring above the clouds. And that tiny little oh-so-satisfying rapidly descending line right before the first chorus! It just jolts you right awake- really makes you feel like a mischievous little scamp.
We performed the cut song Second Midnight, which is essentially a six minute exploration of the relationships between the children and parents in the cast. It has never been performed live with full orchestrations before, and I almost cried while performing it multiple times because of how special it was to be part of. It’s never been easier for me to know exactly why I’m in this line of work than when I heard the trumpet soaring above that last “children will listen” chorus for the first time.
The thing about No One Is Alone is that it’s so universal that it is always going to feel like it’s about now and it’s always going to feel like it’s about you, and it is therefore the easiest song to act in the WORLD. It is, however, one of the hardest things in the world not to look directly at your Republican parents in the audience on “people make mistakes, fathers, mothers… holding to their own, thinking they’re alone.”
We had a female baker, and she sang the entire show in the original octave pretty perfectly, until she did the most STUNNING octave jump in the final chorus, which was meant to be a character break (we did this show as students putting it on in quarantine, so when she sings in “girl” voice she’s singing as the student rather than the baker). It’s actually very very difficult for songs to make me cry, I think because I overthink all of my feelings and it’s very hard to turn my brain off listening to music, but “all the children” in No More ALWAYS wrecked me, because without fail it would make me think about queer kids.
I know that I have more thoughts, but I can’t think of them right now, so PLEASE feel free to ask me questions about the show, I’m dying to talk about it now that I’ve finally had enough time to make this post.
