Somewhere around 9th grade I packed up my trumpet and traded the horn section for a proper choir. Being forced to choose between jazz and theatre at 13 was a big deal! But my very first voice teacher, Robert Segal, was also my dear friend’s dad. My first proper voice lessons happened in their familiar living room at a small spinet piano. Robert sang me through the classics like perfectly wrapped presents. Rodgers and Hammerstein. Bernstein. Sometimes knowing my friend Mandi might be listening to my feeble attempts to bridge the cavernous valley between my chest and head voices was simply terrifying, but I felt so safe with Robert that it is no surprise that he also gifted me Sondheim.
I learned how to spin the air in my instrument singing “Steps of the Palace”. I learned how to count and really read music playing the Baker’s Wife. I learned how to really listen singing that atonal weirdo part that Peri and Frankie slay in the Stepsisters’ track. Yes. I learned how to “rap” singing along to the witch with my sister Michelle to our very well worn Into the woods CASSETT. This play is so embedded in my body I sincerely don’t know if there’s a score I know better or respect more. Into the Woods is my childhood.
In 2014 I had the honor of taking a master class with Stephen Sondheim with the Academy for Teachers. The film of Into the Woods was in the editing stages of development and he mentioned that producers cut “Moments in the Woods” – my go to audition song for nearly a decade - because it was too violent for the intended family friendly market. I may or may not have responded in a way that challenged “the man” himself to stick up for his composition and push back. Life is full of detours and disappointments, missteps, and mistakes. The Baker’s Wife’s self realization that they are worth it is the very core of this play! As soon as my rebuttal flew out of my mouth I felt my face turn red and the other teachers in the room audibly gasped. But Mr. Sondheim’s kind eyes sparkled. Mysteriously. Our exchange appeared in the New Yorker the following week. My parents were so proud that they sealed the magazine in a plastic baggie. The song was not cut from the film. Robert Segal was so so proud.
It took B’DAT almost thirty productions to work our way up to this juggernaut of a play. A wish realized. A dream. There are so many firsts on the stage today. Our first student string quartet – plus oboe, guitar, percussion, and keys. Our first student costume designer and production design. Collaborative choreography built by and with our loyal and loving Krista Jansen, but also by Serena, Hawa, and Adelaide. Ten more mainstage debuts!
Into the Woods is the first B’DAT production that actually FILLS this space to it’s limit and with such joy. The only people that could have made this magic are THESE people. And I’m so incredibly proud of every single one of them. Each brave choice, each risk, each disappointment, each surprise, each self-actualizating moments - even now and then the bad ones! So incredibly worth it. Thank you for being here with us today.
Such a Mysterious Man, that Sondheim. So much magic to teach for those who will Listen. Now go to the Woods!
