Into The Woods: ‘We have a cast!’
Big news from our Into The Woods team today. The show’s director, Brian Ives, kept it short and simple:
“We have a cast!” he said, “It’s been a long process, but we’re thrilled to finally say it: casting is done.”
He said casting the show was hard – if only because of the number of people that auditioned.
“SPARE’s used to having 20, maybe 25 people audition for our big shows. We had 51 this time around,” he said, “and Into The Woods doesn’t have a chorus, so we had a limited number of spots.”
The show’s producer, Stephanie Leader, says beyond the raw numbers, the level of talent at auditions was phenomenal.
“We had so many people where Brian and I would just look at each other and be able to see the goosebumps on our arms,” she said. “Just a ton of incredible people.”
But after a two solid weeks of auditions, callbacks, electronic meetings with the show’s music director Katie Henderson, who watched videos of all the auditions from her study abroad program in France, and phone calls to everyone who auditioned, Woods’s casting team is finally ready to announce the show’s cast.
Here they are – in order of appearance, of course!
The Narrator – Nicole Mulligan
Cinderella – Marisa Valent
Jack – Chris DaCosta
Milky White – Lily Woughter
Jack’s Mother – Erin Donovan
The Baker – Tony DeLousia
The Baker’s Wife – Caileen Harvey
Cinderella’s Stepmother – Elena Woughter
Florinda – Chelsea Bolles
Lucinda – Bridgette Ernst
Cinderella’s Father – Corey Brady
Little Red Ridinghood – Julia Black
The Witch – Alexia Lamb
Cinderella’s Mother – Lily Woughter
Mysterious Man – Caleb Park
The Wolf – Matthew Vegiard
Granny – Emily Frederick
Rapunzel – Kileen McLeary
Rapunzel’s Prince – Evan Walley
Cinderella’s Prince – Matthew Vegiard
Steward – Alec Winters
Cow Number 2 – Autumn Calegari
Giant – Beth Moffit
Snow White – Lily Woughter
Sleeping Beauty – Autumn Calegari
Because of the level of everyone’s talent level, the casting team was also able to cast understudies for most of the show’s parts. The production team says they will treat sure the understudies get some rehearsal time and character work in – and any time someone’s absent, their understudy will get a chance to rock it.
Here’s the list of understudies!
The Narrator – Lindsey Branigan
Cinderella – Kileen McLeary
Jack – Evan Walley
Jack’s Mother – Beth Moffit
The Baker – Chris DaCosta
The Baker’s Wife – Erin Donovan
Cinderella’s Stepmother – Hannah Merrell
Little Red Ridinghood – Emily Frederick
The Witch – Catherine Carter
Cinderella’s Mother – Autumn Calegari
Mysterious Man – Alec Winters
The Wolf – David Ash
Rapunzel – Lindsey Branigan
Rapunzel's Prince – Caleb Park
Cinderella’s Prince – David Ash
Giant – Beth Moffit
Swings – Erin Coughlin, Emilee Coughlin, and John Van Atta
The casting team says they extend congratulations to everyone involved – whether they were cast or not.
“Like I said, the talent level was insane,” said Ives. “Casting was hard – but it was the best problem in the world to have. I can’t wait to get started with everybody!”
Rehearsals start on May 18th, and show dates for Into The Woods are July 10th, 11th, and 12th.