As a lilting melody plays, the opening line of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical masterpiece rings out across the darkened theater: 

“Once upon a time, in a far-off kingdom, there lay a small village at the edge of the woods…” 

Portraying an amusing fairytale of community and caution, “Into the Woods” is a three-time Tony Award winning show and cultural phenomenon. With a vibrant and comedic cast, the musical weaves together the stories of Rapunzel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and other fantastical heroes in an adventure that goes beyond the traditional happily ever after.  

But after more than three decades worth of productions and performances across the country, this fall, the Broadway classic will grace a new (and remarkably familiar) stage: Hockaday’s very own Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Theater. 

The Hockaday Theatre Company announced the challenging new production last spring, and audition material was released mid-July— with casting calls for six leading roles and several ensemble parts.  

Auditions are scheduled for Sept. 4 with callbacks on Sept. 5. Tryouts are open to all Upper School students this year, regardless of theater experience.  

“It’s a much bigger show, so it feels like there’s a lot more at stake. The whole school is going to be involved because it needs a bigger tech [crew], a bigger ensemble, a bigger cast in general,” sophomore Sanjana Rajagopalan said. “You never know who’s going to show up and be super good.” 

Jeremy Hays, Theater Director, encourages students to audition and become part of this once-in-high-school experience.  

“You don’t have to be in Drama,” Hays stated in his audition email. “You don’t have to have experience in theater. Heck, you don’t even have to like theater, me or Ela [Hockaday] to audition.”  

In contrast to the concert-like production of SIX last year, in which students completed separate singing, dancing and acting auditions, the casting process for “Into the Woods” is far more streamlined. Students are expected to attend one singing audition with two prepared song cuts, before performing character-specific scenes later if chosen for callbacks.  

Though this production’s auditions are shorter, students shouldn’t mistake that for a simpler process.

Hays said students should not only focus on Sondheim’s famously complicated music, but also on crafting a performance that’s more than just what’s on the page.  

“[Sondheim’s] music is always difficult to learn, [but] no audition is just about singing the right notes,” Hays said. “It’s all about who you are and what you want out of the audition.” 

The theater director is also searching for students who possess a compelling stage presence and the ability to clearly project their character, even in just a read-through.  

“Everybody is different, in terms of the level of preparedness they need in order to audition,” Hays said. “The thing that I want to see is that you have prepared enough to do your best work. If you don’t know it, and your head has to be down to read it off the page, that’s not acting, that’s reading aloud.” 

With only a month and a half to prepare, potential auditionees are already fully immersed in the show’s fictional realm— developing a myriad of ways to become stage-ready.  

“For the singing, I like to listen to the original Broadway soundtrack a couple of times, and then I get a karaoke backing track to sing with, practicing hitting the notes and finding trouble spots,” junior Anne Marie Helfrich said, who performed in St. Mark’s “Spamalot” last year. 

Junior Olivia Reagor has a similar approach for the character-building aspect of the audition.  

“Typically, you can also research the characters themselves,” Reagor said. “In a lot of play booklets, you can find character descriptions, and then you as an actor can decide how you want to portray those characteristics in your own way.” 

While Hays empathizes with difficulties and nerves of the audition process, he said his goal is for students to take away a professional work ethic and understanding of the theater world.  

“I try to make every aspect of the Hockaday Theatre Company exactly like what we call ‘the real world’,” Hays said. “Auditioning is, without a doubt, the worst way to cast a show, but it’s the only way that we have. So, an actor has to find their way through the given parameters.” 

Production rehearsals for Into the Woods begin in November, and performances are currently scheduled for early February.