The San Diego City College Dramatic Arts Department is set to open its most ambitious musical, “Into the Woods” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, at the Saville Theatre.
Director Katie Rodda admitted “Into the Woods” is an incredible undertaking for City.
“This is the biggest show that I’ve been involved with, and I think it’s the biggest show that City College has ever done,” said Rodda, who is also co-chair of City’s visual and performing arts program. “So we’re all feeling it. We’re all (here) late nights. I was here (for) 12 hours yesterday.”
The production includes the expertise of Richard Dueñez Morrison, the show’s musical director, and collaborations with many seasoned professionals like choreographer Kristin Arcidiancono and scenic designer Duane Gardella.
The timeless musical requires 20 actors, composed mostly of theater majors from City, 10 orchestra members under the direction of Morrison, and dozens of backstage hands who helped create the set, construct costumes and run the show.
Sitzprobe Saturday
Full-time student and theater major Noah Valdez worked triple duty as props master, stage hand and an actor in the show, playing Rapunzel’s prince.
Valdez said it was an honor to work on such an ambitious production.
“It’s fun. It’s just building, helping Dwayne out, whatever he needs,” Valdez said. “There are some crazy pieces in there I’ve worked on, and those platforms are pretty insane pieces.”
With the bulk of the set laid into place, technical rehearsals began on a Saturday, six days before the April 24 opening night.
Those rehearsals began with a sitzprobe, or musical cue-to-cue, and required the attention of the entire cast, crew and orchestra.
The goal of the sitzprobe is to iron out the vocal and musical cues with the actors and incorporate lighting and sound elements, all in one intense and lengthy run-through.
Tech Week takes off
Tech week, as it’s called for theater folks, includes another cue-to-cue or full run-through of the entire production with lights and sound, typically on the same day as the sitzprobe.
City took a day off and returned for multiple days of dress rehearsals.
Canales was impressed by the cast and crew and all the progress they made while working on such a large show.
“It’s really a treat to watch them every night, and to see how much they’ve improved from day one to now,” Canales said. “Compared to other shows that I’ve done, I think it’s the most prepared cast I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Industry veteran Mike McCullock, who is the show’s technical director, recognized the demands a show like “Into the Woods” presents, having directed it previously.
But he said they were ready.
McColluck also designed the sound and lighting for the show, and during the technical rehearsals, he and his assistant hung and focused all of the lights and programmed hundreds of cues.
“We put in all this work, and in the end it comes together,” McCullock said. “That’s the magic.”
Managing cast, crew
Once the show opens, a stage manager takes the reins from the director, having been along side them since day one, and becomes the liaison between the technical side and the performers.
Everything that has been carefully scripted, programmed and choreographed goes perfectly for the audience under their watchful eye.
That person for this musical is City alumnus and stage manager Maya Canales.
Canales was the stage manager for “Cabaret” in 2023 when she studied theater at City College, before going on to graduate from UC San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts in theater.
As a freelance manager in San Diego, Canales amassed credits throughout the past four years from the Old Globe Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse and returned to bring her expertise in stage management back to City.
“I implement equity rules and Broadway rules into City culture, so actors get used to how it will be in the real world,” Canales said.
Fashioning the fairy tale moments
“Into the Woods” certainly does not lack in magical moments as it weaves together moments from classic fairy tales like “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rapunzel.”
Another aspect often overlooked is the work and care that goes into costuming a show of this size.
This particular production of “Into the Woods” required the expertise of Jeanne Raith, who has been costuming shows for over 35 years.
Raith, a professor of fashion at Mesa College who costumes shows for both campuses, has been working with Rodda for years.
“I made her wedding dress,” Raith said. “We had a history together of doing large shows, so she called me when she knew she was doing ‘Into the Woods’ and said, ‘I know you do this. Can you do this?’”
Raith began by looking into the vast closets held deep within the bowels of the C building at City College and found many of the costumes she needed without having to buy much at all.
“It’s senseless to start (over) when you have such a beautiful stock,” Raith said, “when you can use some of these things and just redo them.”
With the help of an assistant and a few students, including actor Presley Cooper, who plays multiple characters in “Into the Woods,” Raith organized the costumes for many of the actors using a specific color palette designed for each character.
“What I wanted to make sure is that they were identified by color all of the time,” Raith said. “So any time they came out and you saw these color combinations, you knew it’s Lucinda … the evil stepmother is all in black and oranges. Jack’s mother (and) Jack, we worked with earth tones, because they’re part of the earth.”
Watching ‘Into the Woods’
The care and commitment from the City College theater community will be on display at the Saville Theatre when “Into the Woods” opens on Friday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m.
The show will play Saturday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, at 2 p.m. and will run for a second weekend on May 1-3.
Tickets are on sale now, $15 for students and $20 for the general public. Parking is available for free at Lot 8.
This story was edited by Itzel Martinez and Crow Ruiz.
