‘Magical experience’: Naperville actor revisits ‘Into the Woods,’ which sparked his passion for theater
“Into the Woods,” the musical based on Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, has always loomed large in Shea Hopkins’ life.
When the actor was 9, he played the role of the steward in his school’s production of “Into the Woods Jr.,” the elementary/junior high school adaptation of the beloved Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical that reveals what happens after happily ever after.
The experience sparked the Naperville resident’s passion and his career. Fast-forward 15 years and Hopkins has a co-starring role as Cinderella’s Prince in Kokandy Productions’ intimate revival running through Dec. 22 at Chicago’s Chopin Theatre.
Director/choreographer Derek Van Barham and music director Nick Sula reimagined the show for 12 singer/actors (six of whom play multiple roles, Hopkins included) and reduced the score to two pianos.
The pianists incorporate “extended piano technique” to re-create sounds or effects typically supplied by other instrumentalists, said Sula, who compared them to a kind of Foley artist.
Extended piano technique may include musicians plucking the piano strings or using a guitar pick on them to mimic the sound of a harp and using a timpani mallet on lower strings to imitate the sound of footsteps.
“We wanted to get as much range out of (the pianos) as possible,” Sula said, explaining that the pianists replicate Sondheim’s score “in unexpected ways … emphasizing magical moments that would have been played by a percussionist or harpist.”
Working on the show has been a “magical experience” for 24-year-old Hopkins, a 2022 North Central College graduate whose performance marks his Kokandy debut.
“I’ve been having so much fun,” he said, “probably the most fun I’ve had doing a production in a long time.”
Especially enjoyable is “Agony,” a comedic duet between the sibling princes played by Hopkins and Jonathan Allsop, who in the first act commiserate over their unattainable princesses.
Male duets are rare in musicals, said Hopkins, who drew upon his experience growing up with three older sisters to play Allsop’s sibling.
“It’s fun playing that dynamic,” he said. “Jonathan is phenomenal and very funny.”
For Hopkins, the show’s message of the importance of found family and community is a timely one.
“The characters don’t always end up in their own stories in the end,” he said. Settling their differences, they end up with a new found family, he said. That’s something to strive for.
“No matter how hard life might get, there’s always going to be someone willing to help you,” he said.
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“Into the Woods”
When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 22. Also, 7 p.m. Nov. 27 and Dec. 9
Where: Kokandy Productions at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, kokandyproductions.com
Tickets: $35-$55