Led by a contingent of West Windsor and Plainsboro theater people, the Pennington Players brings the classic story of “Into the Woods” to Kelsey Theater weekends from January 23 to February 1. The forests are not always what they seem in Stephen Sondheim’s dark and witty musical weaving of fairy tales. Characters include Cinderella, her prince, her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and his beanstalk, Rapunzel, and her prince. The tales are woven together by an original story that involves a baker and his wife. Their wish to begin a family sets off a series of twisted events within the confines of the dark woods.
“Into the Woods” opened on Broadway in 1987, had 765 performances at the Martin Beck Theater, and received three Tony awards. A revival opened in 2002 at the Broadhurst Theater and had 279 performances. It received a Tony award for best revival of a musical. A film adaptation opened in December.
“Audiences have a unique opportunity to see two versions of ‘Into the Woods’ in two different mediums, all within a month of each other,” said Kyrus Keenan Westcott, the production’s director and choreographer, and a former Plainsboro resident. “Kelsey Theater provides a unique, intimate space that allows for theater-goers to be fully immersed in this epic and extraordinary story.”
The live production features Ben Menahem of Plainsboro as Cinderella’s prince, Frank Ferrara of West Windsor as the steward, Kyla Mostello Donnelly, formerly of West Windsor, as Cinderella’s stepmother, and Misha Barker of Plainsboro as Rapunzel.
Born in Southern California, Misha Barker was raised in Moreno Valley and Riverside. Her father, a former paramedic, works in computer management, and her mother, a former emergency room nurse, is a stay-at-home mom. “My mom was involved in chorus and band and had a love for music,” she says. “She sang to me every night when I was growing up, and we would watch old movie musicals.” Those early musical experiences led to her strong appreciation for music.
“My church had a large music program and I became involved in their children’s music programs,” Barker says. “Throughout elementary school I sang at church and played piano. I knew music would always be important in my life.” The family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 2001.
Barker was also very involved in her school music program. “I was in chorus all throughout middle school and high school,” she says. “In middle school every eighth grader is involved in a musical production.” In high school Barker was in “The Music Man” and “Oklahoma,” and played the title role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” and Larkin in “Once Upon a Mattress.”
Her role of Cinderella led to future community recognition. “I went back to substitute teach at my school and kids who were in elementary school who saw the show are now high schoolers,” Barker says. “They still recognized me as Cinderella.” She was also invited to portray Cinderella at a teacher’s granddaughter’s fifth birthday party.
“I had always wanted to be an elementary teacher but it wasn’t until my junior year that I considered combining my two passions — music and teaching,” Barker says. “Now I perform on the side to keep myself active in the music community.”
Barker moved to New Jersey to attend Westminster Choir College and received a bachelor’s degree in music education in 2013. She moved to Plainsboro in April. “I love how close Plainsboro is to everything, but it feels removed from the congestion of Route 1 and the surrounding area,” Barker says. “I love getting to drive by farms and open land on my way to work every day.”
She works with middle school and high school students preparing for their school musicals and looking to make their audition material stronger. Barker is currently helping students in the Robbinsville school district. She also maintains a studio in her home but is open to traveling to homes to teach.
“Into the Woods” is one of her favorite shows. “Once I saw the audition posted, I knew I had to do it,” Barker says. “It has been years since I have auditioned for a show, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get back into theater.” This is her debut at Kelsey Theater.
“I first listened to the show my freshman year of high school and I’ve been hooked since,” Barker says. “Throughout high school and college I have watched the DVD of the Broadway show countless times. I have also seen two high school productions of the musical, both of which amazed me with the amount of talent high schoolers have.” Barker has already seen the film twice. “I was thrilled with the way it turned out,” she says. “The story came across so truthfully.”
Each production of “Into the Woods” is different. Some omit characters or songs, some perform the show with actors playing many roles, some have the cow Milky White as a cardboard cutout, some as a puppet, and some as an actor. “We’re keeping it pretty truthful to the original,” Barker says. “We each have our own take on our characters, and I think our personalities come out in our characters as well.”
The role of Rapunzel has her living in a tower with very long golden hair. Barker cannot reveal how she gets to and from the tower and how she deals with the hair. “It’s all still a secret, even for me,” she says. “I will say, the rehearsal process has been interesting pretending to have so much hair. We’ve been using scarves tied together.”
Frank Ferrara has served on Pennington Players’ board of directors for 14 years. He has been onstage in “Urinetown,” “Legally Blonde,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Cats,” “The Fantasticks,” “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” and “Amadeus.” He has directed “Les Miserables,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” “A Chorus Line,” “Oliver,” “Big River,” “Ragtime,” “Once on This Island,” “The Last Five Years,” “Tommy,” “The Full Monty,” “For the Glory,” “Elegies,” and “The Wedding Singer.” His bio reads “He would like to dedicate this production to his father and to his son, to his mother and to his daughter, and to the horn player [his wife Shannon,] 10 feet up and to your left, for always keeping the story interesting.”
Kyla Mostello Donnelly was reluctant to go into the woods, but hopes it is worth the journey. Raised in West Windsor, she graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in 1993. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and theater from Vanderbilt University, and completed her MBA at Holy Family University. She is a vice president at BlackRock. She has appeared at Kelsey as Mrs. Medlock in “The Secret Garden,” Kate Monster in “Avenue Q,” Sister Mary Amnesia in “Nunsense,” and Nancy in “Oliver.” Mostello Donnelly has also appeared on stage at Actors’ Net of Bucks County, Off Broadstreet Theater, Washington Crossing’s Open Air Theater, and Langhorne Players.
Ben Menahem, a graduate of High School South in 2011, is performing the role of Cinderella’s Prince for the second time. He played the part in Axelrod’s production of “Into the Woods” last March. One of his favorite lines as the prince is “I was raised to be charming. Not sincere.” His previous credits include Lancelot in “Spamalot,” Link in “Hairspray,” Al Deluca in “A Chorus Line,” Austin in “I Love You Because,” Chad in “All Shook Up,” and Berger in “Hair.” He is currently auditioning in New York and pursuing a professional career in theater.
Kyrus Keenan Westcott studied theater at Mercer Community College, and graduated from Westminster School of the Performing Arts at Rider University with a bachelor’s degree in fine art theater. His recent credits include the donkey in “Shrek the Musical,” Emmett in “Legally Blonde,” Nickey in “Avenue Q,” the Leading Player in “Pippin,” Coalhouse in “Ragtime,” Balladeer in “Assassins,” Macbeth in “Macbeth,” Agwe in “Once On This Island,” Cat in the Hat in “Seussical,” Mitch in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and Hero in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”
Although the show contains fairy tale characters, they are from Grimm’s stories and may frighten young children.
#b#Into the Woods, Kelsey Theater, Mercer Community College#/b#, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor. Musical based on Grimm fairy tale characters presented by Pennington Players. For ages 13 and up. $20. 609-570-3333. www.kelseytheatre.net.
