Farmer's Alley Theatre is producing its first full Stephen Sondheim book musical, Into the Woods, running May 28 through June 14. Artistic director Jeremy Koch, director and Western Michigan University alum Leonard Sullivan, and Brooklyn-based actress and WMU alumna Dayna Dantzler joined Cara Lieurance to discuss the production, which has already sold out most of its performances and expanded to a third weekend.
Koch describes the production as a deliberate departure from conventional stagings. Approached Sullivan during the run of Ride the Cyclone about mounting a scaled-down, immersive version, Koch says the idea came naturally. "We thought if people have seen it a bunch of times, maybe we can do it in a different way," he explains, adding that the show is being staged in the round with a ten-person cast in which several actors play multiple characters.
Sullivan, who first performed the show as a teenager at the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska and again as a student Western Michigan University, is directing the production for the first time. He describes Sondheim's genius as dealing "in a lot of realism in the way other musicals were dealing sort of in fantasy," and that his complex melodies and harmonies actually guide performers emotionally. The cast includes local talent such as Jay Burkow, head of WMU's music theater program, and Jack Austin, a recent WMU graduate and former contestant on The Voice, who plays Jack.
Dantzler, a Broadway, national tour and regional theater veteran whose credits include The Color Purple, The Book of Mormon and Waitress, is making her Into the Woods debut as The Witch. She describes building the character layer by layer, saying, "Once I have this skeleton of who she is and where she's going and what that means in the show, then I can continue to just add on."
Koch offers a thematic send-off for audiences considering attending: "The woods are a metaphor for life. When you go into those woods, sometimes they're exciting and fun. Sometimes they're scary...but if we rely on each other and we hold on to each other and support each other, then we can navigate through those difficult woods."
Tickets are available at farmersalleytheatre.com or by calling 269-343-2727. Best remaining availability is Saturday, June 13 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, June 14 at 7 p.m.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
