Patina, Shanice and Hailey Go 'Into The Woods'

By Darlene Donloe

The Hollywood Bowl is the prime location for the upcoming musical Into The Woods, set to hit the venue July 27 for a three-show run.

The mysteriously entertaining and movingly stunning work of art, with a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim will be the 20th annual fully staged summer Broadway musical produced by the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl.

The once upon a time show is enchanting, whimsical and thoughtful. The story goes like this - As the result of the curse of a once-beautiful witch, a baker, and his wife are childless. Three days before the rise of a blue moon, they venture into the forest to find the ingredients that will reverse the spell and restore the witch's beauty: a milk-white cow, hair as yellow as corn, a blood-red cape, and a slipper of gold. During their journey, they meet Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack, each one on a quest to fulfill a wish.

The opening notes of the “Act One Prologue” of Into the Woods sets the tone for what’s to come with its insistent refrain “I wish…I wish…I wish.”

This incarnation of one of Stephen Sondheim’s most beloved shows is chock full of talent, but what makes it even more special is the diversity of the cast which includes Edward Hibbert, (Frasier) as the Narrator, Tamyra Gray, (American Idol) as Granny/Cinderella’s Mother, Edelyn Okano (Mamma Mia!), as Cinderella’s Stepmother, and Rebecca Spencer  (Phantom - The LV Spectacular) as Jack’s Mother.

The cast also includes Skylar Astin as the Baker, Sierra Boggess as Cinderella, Chris Carmack as Rapunzel’s Prince, Anthony Crivello as the Mysterious Man, Sutton Foster as the Baker’s wife, Gaten Matarazzo as Jack, Patina Miller as the Witch, Cheyenne Jackson as Cinderella’s Prince and the Wolf, Hailey Kilgore as Rapunzel, Shanice Williams as Little Red Riding Hood, and the voice of Whoopi Goldberg as the Giant. 

I recently caught up with Patina Miller (PM), Hailey Kilgore (HK) and Shanice Williams (SW) during a break in rehearsal, to talk about the upcoming run at the famed Hollywood Bowl.

Patina Miller 

DD: You’re playing the Hollywood Bowl. Talk about what’s it like to work in this iconic venue.

PM: I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard about it. Everyone keeps telling me about it. I think it’s going to be fun. This is the perfect show for that venue.  I’ve never been there before because I’m an east coast girl. I’m from New York. I haven’t been here for a long time. I’ve only been in and out of town. I haven’t seen a concert there yet.

HK: This is the west coast version of Radio City Music Hall. It’s amazing and it’s 17,000 people. I’m a weird actor. I prefer performing in front of incredibly large groups of people – as opposed to small groups of people – because it’s like I know them.

SW: Everyone keeps talking about it. I’m like, “Stop, you’re scaring me.”  It’s magical. I’ve heard about the number of people. I’m used to just jumping into things that I’ve never done before. It’s something that I had to get into. It’ll be magical for me and with my cast behind me, it’s going to be a blast.

DD:  The show is quite diverse. Talk about the ethnic makeup of the show. Is it wonderful that we’re talking about the diversity of the cast today or is it a shame that we’re STILL talking about the diversity of the cast today?

PM:  It’s beautiful. It’s a fairytale. I love that the creators have gone this route. It's refreshing and creative. It’s necessary. It’s needed. It’s wonderful to be part of a cast where most everyone is represented in an amazing way. It just goes to show you it doesn’t matter. I love that Rapunzel is a black girl because there are lots of women who hear these fairytales but don’t feel represented.  That’s important. Whoever comes to the Hollywood Bowl, I want everyone to feel like they are represented. It’s wild. It’s going to be fun. This is the perfect show to be doing this venue.

SW: I think they did a great job in casting this show. Everyone is perfect in their roles. It doesn’t matter about their color. Honestly. It shouldn’t be something we have to talk about. I’m just proud that we’re here and doing it like this. It’s going to be amazing.

HK:  It’s sad that you have to talk about the diversity of the cast. It’s something that we are doing, but we have a very, very, very, long way to go.  When it comes to diversity, I just want to see someone who looks like me. The day that we don’t have to say it’s a diverse cast of people, playing fairytale characters, will be a really exciting day.

DD: This show has a short run. Some actors don’t like short runs because they say they don’t really know or get into the character until weeks in. What are your feelings?

HK:  You have to do every rehearsal like it’s your last performance. If you’re not giving a full-out performance, maybe vocally you can hold it back for whatever reason. If you’re not treating each run-through when you know it’s only three shows, like it’s a performance, that might make it a little difficult for you. I’m excited because I get the chance to do Rapunzel three nights – three different ways.

Shanice Williams

SW: We just gotta do everything from the jump. I’ve been talking to the director about the depth of my character. When it’s short like that, you have to be super prepared. Who knows what will happen in the future. We’re having a good time together.

DD: Tell me about your character and how you went about developing her?

PM: My character, some would say, is the villain of the piece. She’s the witch. She’s the one that puts spells on everyone, but it turns out she’s the one who gets everyone to own up to who they are.  She’s the one with all the lessons in the end. I’m going about it thinking about my own life, thinking about my mother. Thinking about the lessons I’ve learned. I just became a new mother so this role means a lot to me. It’s about a parent and a child and what that relationship is. It’s a lot of things. It’s deep.

SW: Well, in this show she really grows. She is naïve at the beginning. I wanted to take the seriousness of that into the show and like and make it really important. She meets someone and she gives him the benefit of the doubt. She doesn’t think twice about trusting him – and that’s really dangerous. We have to teach our youth to use their intuition and know the difference between nice and good. I’m just bringing that into my character and giving my loving, youthful energy to it. It’s been fun.

DD: Why did you want to be part of this show?

PM: I wanted to be part of this show because I love Sondheim. Into the Woods is a historic and legendary show. It's a show where I’ve always been a fan. This is an amazing opportunity for me to take on a role that is iconic and to put my own thing on it.

Hailey Kilgore 

DD: Tell me about your character and how you came to develop her?

HK: Most exciting this is that I have the opportunity to make a fairytale character human, How can I make her special, especially someone who has been driven into a state of madness. The exciting thing is layering the part – in which you see a more human approach into seeing how she’s getting to where she’s going.  I’m just trying to make her believable. Also, I’m a woman of color so how do we make her not be just a crazy black woman. It’s been really fun to build on that.

DD: Sondheim is brilliant. Talk about what you’ve learned.

SW: It’s about diction, diction, diction. It’s inTO the woods, not into the woods. Everything is sharp. My vocal coach was like, do you even understand what you are about to do? She was on it with me from day one. I appreciate her for that. It’s the little things.

Into the Woods is directed and choreographed by Tony® nominee Robert Longbottom and conducted by Kevin Stites, who is also the musical director.

Into The Woods, Hollywood Bowl, Fri., July 26; at 8 p.m.; Sat., July 27, at 8 p.m.; and Sun., July 28, at 7:30 p.m. Subscriptions and single tickets for performances during the Hollywood Bowl 2019 summer season are available at hollywoodbowl.com, 323 850 2000, or in person at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office.