Into The Woods Casting Question

[Dreamcatcher3]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 8:13pm

Hi! So currently, I am casting a production of Into The Woods. My company really wants to do it, but we only have a small number of actors, so I have been tasked with planning out a way with double casting, but I need to know if there are any problems. If anyone has better ideas of ways to cast it, we have 10 girls and 4 boys. 

Females: Cinderella, Witch, Baker's Wife, Little Red, Narrator/Mysterious Woman, Rapunzel/Cinderella's Mother, Jack's Mother, Cinderella's Stepmother, Florinda/Granny, and Lucinda/Giant

Males: Baker, Jack, Cinderella's Prince/Wolf, Rapunzel's Prince/Steward/Cinderella's Father

Updated On: 6/14/21 at 08:13 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 9:05pm

Sorry, “Mysterious Woman”? That would involve lyric changes. Has that been approved?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 9:25pm

Looks like you listed Cinderella's mother twice. 

Off-hand it looks fine to me, but at the end of the day, you're the one who has to go through the text and figure out a configuration that makes logistical sense for your production, and it looks like you've already done that. If there are any logistical issues with the double-casting, there's not much that a message board can offer that can't be figured out through your own text-work. I worked on the show a long time ago, and I've seen it many times, but that's not a replacement for having the script right in front of me as a definitive reference. 

Regarding the "Mysterious Woman" - don't forget it's 2021, and you can always just have the female actor play the role as a man, if lyrics/line changes are an issue. Suspension of disbelief! it certainly wouldn't be the first time a woman played a man onstage. 

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 9:37pm

Try making a girl as Jack! He's supposed to be a prepubescent boy anyway, so a short woman with a high voice will work fine. I personally played Jack in high school and there was no problem with it, no gender change either. 

And I agree with JBroadway. There's really no need to change it to "Mysterious Woman". I also played a few older men in my time in theater (noticing a pattern?) and again, no one had any problems.

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 10:52pm

For reference: Fiasco’s production doubled - Cinderella/Granny, Little Red/Rapunzel, Jacks Mother/Step Mom, Lucinda/Wolf/ Cinderella’s Prince, Florinda/Rapunzel’s Prince, and Jack/Steward. Baker, BW, Witch, and Mysterious Man werent doubled. If you’re doing a 10 person cast, don’t be afraid to gender bend actors (not characters). Why couldn’t Rapunzel’s prince or Jack be played by a woman?

[SoCalDirector]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 11:00pm

this is one of my favorite musicals and I saw a production at a theater that inexplicably scaled it down because they usually have no trouble getting larger cast. The whole concept was insane. They decide to put everybody in pastels. The birds with the new focus of the show. There’s all these birds at the beginning of the show when you come in and one way to try to talk to them. And then the worst part was they had characters play by the same actor have scenes with themselves. Cinderella was the biggest person in the shell which is a little daunting because your characters usually one of the younger ones.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/13/21 at 11:03pm

This is my favorite musical. I think it’s perfect and I thank God the original production was filmed since every subsequent production has changed it more and more and taken it farther away from, what I feel, makes the show so special.

[A Director]

Posted: 6/14/21 at 3:42am

Dreamcatcher3 said: "Hi! So currently, I am casting a production of Into The Woods. My company really wants to do it, but we only have a small number of actors, so I have been tasked with planningout a way with double casting, but I need to know if there are any problems. If anyone has better ideasof ways tocast it, we have 10 girls and 4boys.

Females: Cinderella, Witch, Baker's Wife, Little Red, Narrator/Mysterious Woman,Rapunzel/Cinderella's Mother, Jack's Mother, Cinderella's Mother, Florinda/Granny, and Lucinda/Giant

Males: Baker, Jack,Cinderella's Prince/Wolf, Rapunzel's Prince/Steward/Cinderella's Father"

I strongly suggest you check with MTI to before making any changes.  What you want to do could be illegal.

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/14/21 at 7:06am

Your theater group should realize that producing shows you WANT to do isn't always possible. Instead they should be doing shows they CAN do.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/14/21 at 7:14am

^Sadly, sometimes you don't know until auditions.  But, otherwise, I agree.

Yes, you need permission to change a character from male to female.  TECHNICALLY, you need permission to have a female play a role written for a male, even if she is playing it AS a boy.   Yes, I realize that many don't bother with this distinction.

 

I'm curious - how old are these actors,  you refer to them as boys and girls.  If they are children, even hs age - you are putting a lot of pressure on their voices.  Sondheim is difficult enough for young voices.  

Updated On: 6/14/21 at 07:14 AM

[Dreamcatcher3]

Posted: 6/14/21 at 6:31pm

So to address everything that was commented (thank you by the way), I don't exactly what MTI said to the directors but I'm just relaying what I was told. Double casting is fine as long as it wouldn't cause any major script changes like having a character leave early. We do have permission to use Mysterious Woman instead of Man. I accidentally put Cinderella's Mother twice because one was supposed to be the Stepmother but I edited that. We also have permission for Jack to be played by either gender, but I was told that the production team would prefer for it to be a boy. Also, our actors are Juniors in High School up to Seniors in college. The company has done Sondheim, most of them were in their last Sondheim show, so I think they will be fine. I've decided based on these to give both my OG idea plus one where it's Mysterious Man with Jack as a woman instead since it would be easier to cast. I would also slipt Rapunzel's Prince/Steward/Cinderella's Father into Rapunzel's Prince/Cinderella's Father and Steward as two different people. Thanks for all your guys' help!

Updated On: 6/15/21 at 06:31 PM