The Company go Into the Woods, 9 Aug

The Company Youth Music Theatre are coming back to The Lowry with Stephen Sondheim’s Tony award-winning Into The Woods.

This production interweaves the works of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a dark and delightful manner. What begins as a lively irreverent fantasy becomes a moving and touching lesson about community responsibility and the stories we share with our children. The musical will showcase the award-winning top end of youth theatre work with a cast who have been auditioned across the UK.

Into the Woods tells the tale of a baker and his wife who learn they’ve been cursed with childlessness by the witch next door. In order to break the curse they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell. The couple swindle, lie and steal to ensure they complete this momentous task! While everyone’s wish is granted at the end of Act One, the consequences of their actions return to haunt them, with disastrous results!

With music and lyrics crafted by Stephen Sondheim this exciting production builds on the momentum of this young theatre company’s previous successes in the North West. The Company staged Parade at The Lowry in August 2010 and their other work in Manchester includes Merrily We Roll Along and The Company’s debut, the award-winning Rose and the Ring. The Company also works in London, but happily returns to its North West home as it is a national youth theatre that is not London-centric.

Chairman of The Company, Liz Whitehead said “The arts in Salford is a topic that is attracting world attention, which is as it should be, as the facilities at The Lowry are world class.  A look at the reviews from The Company’s last performance at The Lowry, show that this youth theatre produces a standard to match”.

This  award winning piece is set to be performed by a talented cast of 13–23 year olds from across the UK following a series of intensive auditions held in Manchester, London and Birmingham earlier this year and a casting day in May. The cast members have taken away their parts to prepare and will come together again just 10 days before the show, where, in an intense residential rehearsal, with West End professionals.

The Company Youth Music Theatre brings the most gifted young performers to large audiences and critics alike and has been proven to be a training ground for the future stars of stage and screen, with past and present Company members achieving considerable success in TV and theatre. In just 4 years of life, The Company’s talented players have gone on to Beautiful People, Waterloo Road, Skins on TV, and Wizard of Oz at the Lowry and Shrek, in London’s West End.

Into the Woods runs at The Lowry from 9 – 11 August.