Year 9 and 10 students will be performing Into the Woods Jr. — a fast-paced, family-friendly one-act version of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, based on Brothers Grimm fairytales, which Showbiz Queenstown put on in May.
"We chose to do the same one as Showbiz to allow the students to see their show in action and to help with their development of character and that sort of stuff," says director/Wakatipu High drama teacher Jake Hansen, who stage-managed the Showbiz show.
The cast of 25 to 30 will be playing all the familiar characters like Cinderella, The Witch, Little Red and The Baker.
Milky White — Showbiz’s scene-stealing cow created by puppeteer Megan Gross — will even make another appearance.
The cast are being backed up by year 12/13 performing arts technology students who are making costumes, building props and setting the lighting up.
The student directors are Indy Hamilton and Ruby Pullar, who’ve both had Showbiz experience, while Natasha Wilson, Showbiz’s musical director for May’s show, reprises that role.
Hansen — who’s grateful to assistance from Queenstown’s TomTom Productions — says the school’s intending to produce further junior versions of shows, as younger students don’t usually get on stage for Wakatipu High’s main musicals.
"Not necessarily [following] Showbiz [shows] the whole time, but junior shows that are more achievable for that younger group.
"The whole premise of the junior musical for us is just development."
Into the Woods Jr. runs at the school theatre next Thursday and Friday from 6.30pm — tickets via Humanitix
