“Into the Woods,” the play currently performing at the Ruth Street Theatre at Prescott High School , begins like a fairy tale. Sort of. Actually more of a Fractured Fairy Tale. It stars Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and two wayward princes, among others.

The tongue-in-cheek musical was written by Stephen Sondheim, and based on a book by James Lapine. The play has won 3 Tony Awards and a Grammy Award. Saturday the 19^th at 7 pm is the final performance.

The play centers around a baker and his wife who want to have children. In order for that to happen they have to break a family curse. This sends them into the woods to meet up with most of the fairy tale characters. (Unfortunately they live next door to the wicked witch on one side and Jack on the other.)

Laughs came throughout the musical as Jack sings a love song to his cow, (expertly crafted by artist Debbie Hammer), Little Red Riding Hood’s sweet Granny graphically describes how she wants the baker to dispose of the wolf, and the two princes generally portray royalty more akin to the errant Prince Charles of England than the fairy tale version of a prince we grew up with. As one of the princes states, “I was raised to be charming, not sincere.” On the other hand, when the princes sing longingly of wanting what they can’t have; simply because they can’t have it, well, that could actually apply to a lot of us.

Billy Reed and Jacob Clark play the princes. The young men keep straight faces as they smirk arrogantly, emanate entitlement and speak quite sincerely about how wonderful they are.

Little Red Riding Hood (played by either Ellie Gibbs or Carly Jonovich depending on which night you attend) was hilarious as a spoiled brat who wasn’t annoying. Just a tough little cookie who knows what she wants, and gets it. And Gibbs gets the character. Her personality shines through the battiness, which makes the audience continue to like her.

There are 27 students in the cast, a lot of kids and adults in the technical crew, parent volunteers, community members and teachers, all pulling together to make a musical that will always be remembered. It’s truly a team effort, and the camaraderie between the cast and crew after the performance was evidence of that. Although the community gets to enjoy the final product this artistic team produces, it’s the students who gain the most from it. Yes, classroom time is vitally important. But when students learn to work together, sacrifice weekends, evenings and study time, they learn about one of the most vital things a productive member of a community can absorb; commitment. And once the play is performed, they learn about the reward they receive from hard work and their dedication to the team. That real world experience is something that will serve them well in high school, college and beyond. And the musicals Prescott High School produces are always well thought of, and usually sold out.

And as for “Into the Woods,” the bit with The Narrator, (played perfectly by Isaac Benson-White), is priceless. I won’t spoil it, but my first grader leaned over to me while the audience around her was laughing at the situation and said, “Was that supposed to happen?”

Oh, and the witch flies. Yes. Nicole St. Germain not only does a great job as the witch who always tells the truth (“I’m not good; I’m not nice; I’m just right.”) but she gets rigged up (courtesy of Flying By Foy) to fly across the stage several times. Try to find that in your average high school musical.

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