A play with Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and a witch is coming into the Wadena Madhatters Community Theatre, beginning with auditions on Jan. 17 and 18.
The big spring musical, “Into the Woods,” carries a cast of 18 to 22 with a backstage crew of the same size. At auditions, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. in the Wadena Memorial Auditorium, people can sign up for positions such as helping with costumes and building sets or read from the script and sing for a part on the stage.
“We’re hoping that it brings interest back to our community theatre, we feel that interest has kind of waned in the past years and we want to ... bring back some of the grandeur that the early Madhatters had, so we wanted to do a big show,” said Bronwynn Touchette, Madhatters’ president.
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The last big musical was “Brigadoon” in 2007, although, Madhatters has performed smaller musicals, including “Believe” in 2018, according to Madhatters’ treasurer Michelle Curtis and Touchette. Whether a musical or not, Touchette says each play means a new family is built with the cast and crew.
Each performance also brings enjoyment and lessons to those involved and the audience. One from “Into the Woods” is that “sometimes what you wish for isn’t really what you needed,” according to Curtis.
“This one being about the fairytales … you would think that it’s all old and old fashioned but we want to, in the telling of it and the way we stage it and all that, that all of those the lessons and the morals from the fairytales are still relevant today,” Curtis said.
With the relevance and popularity of “Into the Woods,” the Madhatters will include their own creative elements, such as taking the woods metaphorically and literally by adding “a shadow of urbanness,” according to Touchette.
“This is a very popular musical for community theatres to do so we are trying to make ours stand out. We want people to see ours and not think of anybody else’s,” Touchette said. “We’ve always kind of been on the cutting edge of social issues and things like that, so we don’t want to abandon that just because we’re doing something large and grand, we still want there to be messages that everybody can relate to in our show.”
If you’re interested in telling these messages, auditions are at 7 p.m., Jan. 17 and 2 p.m., Jan. 18, in the Wadena Memorial Auditorium. Auditions can also be arranged with Curtis and Touchette if you cannot attend the scheduled auditions by calling Curtis at 218-640-3268 or Touchette at 218-820-8740.
“We want everybody to be able to come and be a part of this. And there are so many things that creative people of any kind of creativity can come and do. It's not just actors and singers,” Curtis said.
The play performances are scheduled for March 27-29 and April 3-5.
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