Festus High School students will perform the musical “Into the Woods Jr.” next week.
Showtimes are at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, April 30-May 2, at the Festus R-6 Performing Arts Center, 501 Westwind Drive.
Tickets cost $5 and must be purchased at the door.
William Borgmeyer, the show’s director and a Festus High English language arts teacher, said like the full-length “Into the Woods” musical, “Into the Woods Jr.” focuses on a variety of fairy tale characters, but it is a shorter and lighter version of the show.
“There is a made-up story of a baker and his wife tasked to find objects because they’re trying to have a child and a witch has put a curse on them,” he said. “They have to go into the woods to get all of these objects to reverse the curse and have a child. So, they go and meet all the fairy tale characters in the woods, like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.”
Borgmeyer said the show should appeal to a wide range of people.
“It’s a good fast-paced show featuring catchy music,” he said. “It’s got some comedy in it. I would say it’s for kids 6 or 7 and above, because it covers a lot of fairy tales. I think it would hold pretty much anybody’s attention.”
Borgmeyer said he directed a Festus High School production of “Into the Woods” a decade ago and felt it was time to do it again.
“It was the first musical we did at Festus after not doing musicals for a bunch of years,” he said. “So, 10 years ago we decided to start doing musicals again. So, it’s the 10-year anniversary of us doing it.”
He said he likes that the show offers many roles.
“It’s got a big ensemble cast,” he said. “No one’s the main character. It’s a bunch of fairy tales combined, so it’s great for kids.”
The cast includes seniors Mallory Burton, Annabelle Whitener, Jaden Staat, Mia Fjone, Kenzie Boehmer, Tobi Beck, Cale Huskey, Joey Huntsman, Wyatt Carter and Gracie Kemper; juniors Courtney Cozine, Anna Berezowski, Will Swafford, Darreon Box, Bella Micco and Kane Seitz; sophomores Kat Carr, Ellie Bond and Zach Caudill; and freshmen Ashton Hall and Ava Karr.
Borgmeyer said the high school typically stages its theater productions from a Thursday through Saturday or Sunday, but changed it this time to accommodate students who will take part in a music contest.
“There is a conflict with a music contest that Saturday that many of our students will be in, so we pushed it back a day,” he said.