Into the Woods

Director Michael Klapperich only directs a show every two years, but when he does, he puts his all into making it a good one.

“It’s because I’m a teacher during the school year and I like to have a year off so that I can end the school year and just enjoy the summer,” Klapperich explained. “I don’t want to overtax myself doing a show over the summer because it’s quite a bit to balance.”

As Klapperich explained his vision, it was easy to see why. The theme he set for this production — Stephen Sondheim’s classic Into the Woods — was “elevate.” How could the cast and crew elevate their production from a good one to a memorable one?

“I like to add to all of my shows just a little bit of surprise and a little bit of magic in the show,” said Klapperich. So as not to spoil his surprises, we won’t be going too much into the specifics of how he plans to go about this, but at one point during production planning, the team floated the idea of scratch-and-sniff playbills. The term “4D experience” was also used during the interview. If nothing else, audiences can expect a more immersive experience than they might be used to at the theater.

“I think I’m most excited about the stuff people don’t know about yet,” said Klapperich. “I like to be very careful with the marketing and the publicity about this show because I don’t want to give away all the secrets. I want the audience to be surprised and say, ‘Ooh, that was unexpected,’ or ‘Ooh, I wasn’t expecting that. That was really cool how you did that!”

Rick LaFrombois, who handles CWCT’s PR, said that people still talk about Klapperich’s production of Matilda, which he directed two years ago.

“I think every director gets the artistic license to sort of add their own personality,” said Klapperich. “It’s not like I’m taking the script and turning it on its head, but sometimes it’s in helping the actors determine the personalities of the characters by their actions onstage. A lot of it is the costumes. You can determine a lot about the characters by what they wear and how they wear it and attention to details.”

Into the Woods is the final show of CWCT’s 2024–25 season, which included Seussical and Les Misérables.

With a score by Stephen Sondheim — whose music is notoriously challenging for performers to sing due to its unusual structure — Into the Woods follows a cast of fairy tale characters through the titular woods and into situations that will test an audience’s understanding of the tropes they know and love.

“It’s a complicated story to follow,” explained Klapperich. “It’s the classic fairy tale characters, but all of their stories get intertwined together, and we get to discover a new depth of the characters.”

While the young cast struggled to memorize the score, Klapperich said that they were excited by the challenge and the chance to grow as performers.

“I’ve been very impressed with the way this group has taken on this challenge and just practiced and worked together in order to get it done,” he said.

Born from the union between Wausau Children’s Theatre and the Merry Pipers in 1979, CWCT bills itself as the only public theatre in the area that offers theatre “consistently by and for children,” according to its website.

Kids aged eight–18 gather from every school district in the area to put on shows. LaFrombois said that the “built-in support network” of participants’ families helps the company to garner support, from building sets to filling seats come showtime. LaFrombois’s own daughter plays Little Red Riding Hood in this production.

“For me, it’s almost a part-time job, and I’m just a volunteer,” said LaFrombois. Theatre is a lot of work — but participants tend to find that it pays off in equal measure.

“[The kids] learn respect and acceptance and eventually become a family… which is why we keep doing it,” said LaFrombois.

Into the Woods runs from June 20–22 at the UW Center for Civic Engagement’s Veninga Theatre. Showtimes are 7 p.m. on Friday, June 20; 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 21; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 22. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $13 for audience members under 18 or over 60, plus online service fee.

“I hope people come out and see the show just because I think it’ll be a wonderful thing for the community to see,” said Klapperich. “It’s a challenge, it’s a great show, it’s a very complex story. I hope everyone comes out to see it and tells their friends so they can also see it on the weekend.”

To learn more about CWCT, visit https://www.mycwct.org. You can buy tickets to Into the Woods and the plays being put on through CWCT’s summer camp programs at https://cwct.booktix.com.