Sondheim's omnipotent spirit challenges Acting students
January 12, 2012 11:56 am | Filed Under: Clubs
Pictured here is an “Into the Woods” binder, containing both a musical score and script for the show. Cast members can be recognized by these binders, and these binders can be recognized by their love-worn cardboard and plastic coverings. They carry them like the knights of old carried their trusty swords. (Image Credit: John Carroll)

Despite the fact that the cast has been studiously practicing “Into the Woods” for many months on their own, the beginning of organized classroom rehearsals has marked the birth of a new challenge: reading music.
“Oh my gosh this is so hard I’m never going to get this,” moaned the class collectively.
Made all the more difficult by the fact that this music is bafflingly complex, with time signatures that many great warriors fear.
“If everybody sings the right thing at the right time then the song should be exceptional,” said *Tess Plona *, 12.
This is all too true.
To conquer this musical behemoth born from the mind of *Stephen Sondheim *, students are already developing little tricks to help them learn.
“The princes come in at measure 42 and as long as they speak loudly, they should serve as a steady anchor for the rest of the singers,” said Plona, referring to a particularly tricky song called “First Midnight.”
Thankfully, the cast is a formidable legion of music readers, who are more than up to the challenge of this daunting music.
Want to learn more about time signatures? Visit goaves.com.