Into the Woods, Jr.: ESHS students to perform musical Feb. 9-10

The halls of Eureka Springs High

School are alive with the sound of a musical.

The school’s drama department will

perform Into the Woods, Jr. at 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10,

at the high school auditorium. The musical

centers on a baker and his wife

who wish to have a child, Cinderella

who wishes to attend the King’s festival,

and Jack who wishes his cow would

give milk. It stars Griff Hatch and Ashlynn

Lockhart as the baker and his wife,

Rachel Adams as Cinderella, Makenzie

Meyer as Little Red Riding Hood and

Celia Stodden and Alexis Jayroe as Jack

and his mother.

Adams described her character, calling

Cinderella indecisive and unsure

of herself. That’s not the case for Little

Red Riding Hood, Meyer said.

“She’s very sure of herself and always

carries herself with her head held high,

except for when she faces the world,”

Meyer said. “Then she’s a little hesitant,

and always a little hungry.”

Sophomore Austin Maloney plays

Cinderella’s prince, saying the prince

is very cocky and full of himself. Sophomore

Alicia Britance portrays one of

the evil stepsisters, and junior Isaiah

McCurry steps on stage throughout the

show as the narrator.

This is the third musical the school

has performed, and Adams has been in

all three. She said this one has been the

most difficult, because she sings more

than she has in past roles.

“I thought the singing part wouldn’t

work for me, but I’ve actually been

able to get pretty comfortable with it,”

Adams said. “I’ve been working pretty

hard to improve that area of my character.”

Meyer agreed.

“At first, the singing catches you offguard,

but once we do it every couple of

times, you just go into it and you sing,”

Meyer said. “It’s part of your character.”

Britance said this is her first musical.

It’s been interesting, she said, to work

with everyone on the choreography and

music.

“We’re able to dance, sing, all come

together and have fun,” Britance said.

McCurry doesn’t have any singing

parts, but he has been working on his

timing.

“I have an intro to a song, and then

everybody sings it,” McCurry said. “I

feel like the real challenge with that is

timing my intros to the music, timing

it to where the lyrics start at the right

time.”

The best part of the musical, Maloney

said, is how everyone works together.

“It’s about working with people on

stage and having that laugh when someone

messes up, because we all understand,”

Maloney said. “We’ve all been

there before.”

Britance agreed.

“I’m a very introverted person and

since I got in drama, it’s nice to feel accepted

and that if you mess up, it’s OK,”

Britance said. “They won’t judge you.”

McCurry said he’s played sports all

his life, saying he enjoys working on a

team.

“It’s very similar to that. I feel you

have to learn each others’ strengths and

weaknesses, especially with your timing

and movement on stage,” McCurry said.

“You have to be able to study those and

complement each other. Once you finally

get it down, once you finally coordinate

and come together … the feeling’s

pretty great.”

This year, Adams said, the drama department

is prepared to perform better

than ever. She thanked a group of parents

who have helped with costumes.

“We have almost a full-fledged costume

department,” Adams said. “We

have a lot of moms that are being really

helpful. Things are coming together a

lot faster than usual, and it’s really exciting.”

This is Meyer’s first big role in a musical,

and she said she’s happy it’s this

one.

“It’s kind of whimsical but also kind

of dark,” Meyer said. “It teaches you a

lesson without you realizing you’re being

taught a lesson. The kids, they’ll see

it as whimsical and fun, but the adults

will realize there’s more meaning to it.

No matter how old you are, you’ll understand

it.”

The themes in the musical, Maloney

said, should resonate with audiences.

“It teaches you to take the things you

have, and don’t take them for granted,”

Maloney said. “Just value them as they

are. Don’t wish for more than you already

have.”

The students are only performing the

first part of Into the Woods, McCurry

said.

“It’s whimsical and funny and satirical,

but it can also teach you a lot about

life,” he said.

Drama teacher Rick Mann said he’s

proud of his students for how much

work they’ve put into the production.

There are enough students involved in

the drama department now, Mann said,

that he doesn’t need to call in extra people

to run the light and sound board.

“That’s a big addition to it, just having

enough students to cover the parts

and all the little aspects of it,” Mann

said.

Equity Bank is sponsoring the musical.

That’s important, Mann said, because

it costs a lot of money to access

the music and script for a production

like this.

“We would have to do a bunch of

smaller fundraisers to be able to get that

money,” Mann said. “With the community

giving larger amounts of money, it

gives us the time to focus more on what

we’re learning.”

McCurry encouraged the community

to come see the show, saying it truly

matters to the students to receive that

kind of support.

“I think it’s really important to come

see and support the youth of this town.

Just be there and support us,” McCurry

said. “We’re not in a big city. We don’t

have all these fans, so it feels good for

people to come see it.”

The high school’s FFA students will

have a spaghetti dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday,

Feb. 10, offering spaghetti, salad,

dessert and a drink for $5. Tickets to the

musical are $10 for adults and $5 for

students. No advance ticket purchase is

necessary. Eureka Springs School District

students are admitted free.