Musically ever after

LPO Repertory Theatre is back with Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical Into the Woods

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

In an age of endless sequels, prequels and reimaginings populating everyone’s streaming sites, it’s important to look back at some of the trailblazers that helped pave the way for other productions to follow.

Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning play Into the Woods, based on the book by James Lapine, deserves a mention for its imaginative take on the real wishes and dreams of popular characters from the Brothers Grimm fairytale world.

Lake Pend Oreille Repertory Theatre will present its take on Sondheim’s musical classic with a two-weekend run Friday-Saturday, May 12-May 13 and May 19-20 at the Panida Theater (300 N.First Ave.).

Into the Woods is the third production for LPO Theatre, a local stage troupe founded by Keely Gray in 2019 and which has found great success with past performances of Young Frankenstein and The Importance of Being Earnest.

This year, Gray will not only produce the show, but also serves as director and plays the role of Cinderella.

“My cast has a running joke,” Gray told the Reader. “I am no longer wearing multiple hats. I’m a hat rack.” wrong, black or white, but it’s all in the gray. This musical will change how we perceive morality.”

“It’s pretty awesome to prove to yourself that you can do stuff like this,” she added.

Into the Woods combines the fairytale stories of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel and more, going beyond “ever after” to explore what happens next in their lives.

In the first act, those iconic characters play out their traditional roles. In the second act, the audience sees what happens after “happily ever after,” with a more modern and intense take on the story, according to Gray.

Gray said multitasking is a lot to handle, but she wouldn’t want it any other way. It takes a lot of imagination and creativity, which are both attributes that attracted Gray to Sondheim’s work.

“We all love and hate Sondheim,” she said. “The music and musicality is so intense. There are changing time signatures multiple times in a single song. There are key changes. We all have to be really on our game as far as the music goes.”

Gray gives credit to Music Director Katie Skidmore for keeping everyone on the beat. In Into the Woods, actors not only have to keep pace with one another, they have to time their lines to coincide with sound effects that are already baked into the musical pieces. In other words, if they mess up their timing, the house of cards could come tumbling down.

The cast contains some of Sandpoint’s best known thespians, including Gray, Kate McAlister, Andrew Sorg, Holly Beaman, Nicole Buratto, Corey Repass, Threnody Hammond, Orion Ettinger, Katie Skidmore, Steve Neuder, Terry Owens, Brit Hagan, Mattie Patterson, Sarah Morgan, Ashley Lopez, Erich Shrack, Alex J. Jones, Chika Orton and Josephine Ryals.

“It’s in our own style,” she said. “The original piece stuck closely to the stereotypical fairy-tale image. Ours is a little more edgy.”

Into the Woods is an all-ages production that Gray said was, “the biggest, most difficult musical we’ve done so far. I thought Young Frankenstein was difficult, but holy crap. … The people in this town, the talent that we have here, never ceases to amaze me. They always rise to the occasion.”

Into the Woods

Friday-Saturday May 12-13; Friday-Saturday, May 19-20; doors at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m.; $25 general admission; Panida Theater, 300 N. First Ave., 208-263-9191, get tickets at panida.org. Learn more at lporep.com.

“This show will make you think of your journey through life,” Gray said. “It will show how it’s not just right,

The production is rounded out by an experienced crew, including Gray as director, Scott Doughty as assistant director, Michael Bigley as stage manager, Skidmore as music director, Orton as choreographer, McCallum Morgan as casting director, Myriah Belle as props mistress, Tim Bangle handling sound design, Wesley Hammond taking on lighting and Hagan responsible for make-up design. Lukas Bangle will act as assistant stage manager and Miriam Hammond is assistant props.

While Gray said she loves Sondheim’s original version, LPO Rep’s interpretation of Into the Woods is slightly different.

Music

By Reader Staff

The Festival at Sandpoint’s Youth Orchestra will perform its spring concert at the Heartwood Center on Monday, May 15, at 6 p.m. All ages are welcome and admission is free.

Classes for the Youth Orchestra began in September 2022, and the spring concert will be the group’s first performance of the 2022-’23 season.

Created in 1998, the Youth Orchestra is intended to help students develop the necessary skills and knowledge to master their orches- tral string instruments, and is the longest-running educational program offered by the Festival. More than two decades later, the Festival at Sandpoint continues to offer free string classes for students of any age.

The program is currently\ composed of two groups — a Beginning Orchestra and a Continuing Orchestra. Both groups are led by the Festival Youth Orchestra Conductor Karen Dignan.

The Beginning Orchestra Class is designed for students who are still getting started but have a basic knowledge of their instrument and reading music.

“The Beginning Orchestra members are almost all new to ensemble playing, and this is their first experience in an orchestra,” Dignan said.

The Continuing Orchestra Class is for students looking to hone their skills and expertise and have some prior experience playing in a group setting.

Students in the Beginning Orchestra Class typically move to the Continuing Orchestra Class after one year, which results in a tight-knit group both socially and musically.

“The Continuing Orchestra students have been playing together for three years and are maturing in their musical awareness and capabilities,” Dignan said.

Both groups are open to any orchestral string players, including the violin, viola, cello, bass and more. Classes are free for all ages and held weekly on Monday evenings.

To learn more, visit festivalatsandpoint.com/education, call 208-265-4554 or email info@ festivalatsandpoint.com.