Broadway to Brownsville: 'Into The Woods' to open Camille's 61st season

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The Camille Playhouse will open its 61st season with Stephen Sondheim’s much-loved musical “Into The Woods,” the retold story of Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters, plots and the consequences of wishing for a storybook ending.

The local production features a cast of 19 actors from across the Rio Grande Valley. It will be presented at the Camille in Dean Porter Park on successive weekends Sept. 13-15 and Sept. 20-22. Tickets are available online and at the box office.

“Into The Woods” is a classic musical with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It premiered in San Diego in 1986 and opened on Broadway in 1987. It has had at least 13 major productions, with Bernadette Peters in the pivotal role of the magical witch.

The show follows a Baker and his wife who are wishing for a family, Cinderella who wishes to go to the Prince’s Ball, Jack and mother who wish for a better life, and Little Red who wishes to visit her grandmother. They are met as they venture into the woods with more characters, such as the witch, Rapunzel and her Prine, a big bad Wolf, and a Giant, according to the synopsis on the Camille web page.

Zoe Sesin, who teaches theater at McAllen’s Morris Middle School, plays the witch. She said she remembers seeing the show a decade ago and thinking to herself, that’s the kind of actor she wanted to be.

“I remember sitting there, 18 years old, and thinking to myself ‘that’s what I want to be like onstage.’ I want to be the witch because she is such a powerful, pivotal character. She’s such a catalyst for the other characters and pushes them to do things that normally they wouldn’t do,” Sesin said outside a rehearsal on Wednesday.

“She’s not afraid. I love how sarcastic she is, how she goes after what she wants without any hesitation at all.”

Sesin said she found out from her friend Brandon Binder, the Camille’s artistic director, that Brownsville’s community theater was going to do the show and auditioned.

“We had a huge pool (of more than 100) people to choose from, and the cast that we decided on is so incredibly talented,” Binder said. “They are from across the Valley. We have people from McAllen who are driving down for rehearsals for this. We have people from Harlingen. We have people from Brownsville, we have people from Weslaco. There were so many people that were excited to do this show.”

“There are some familiar faces in the cast, people who have been on the Camille stage before, but there’s also new people, people who have never done a show here at Camille, people who have never done a show period. It’s a talented group of people who are excited to bring this show together.”

That was evident at Wednesday’s rehearsal.

Juliana Nicart, from Brownsville, who plays Little Red, said her first show with the Camille was “Pippin” in 2022.

“Camille has made me feel so welcomed and I really felt I was learning and growing as an actor here, so I auditioned whenever I could, whenever I was free. For ‘Into the Woods,’ I didn’t care what I played because this is my favorite musical. I just wanted to be part of it in any way. I would have been happy to have played any role they had given me,” she said.

Nicart played the daughter in the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Early College High School one-act play production of “Con Mis Manos” that advanced to the UIL state finals in May.

Sophia Flores from McAllen plays Cinderella.

She said she began her theater career two years ago in a student musical at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“I came over to the Camille and we did ‘Anything Goes’ in January and it was so much fun. Such a kind group of people and such a wonderful and talented cast. It’s so fun to get to create these stories with these people,” Flores said.

“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had. … I love getting to create these worlds with these amazing people. … It’s my favorite thing in the world, so I would hope that this would help me build on my experiences,” she said.

Eliseo Ortega, from Pharr, plays Jack. He arrived in the Valley earlier this year from Chicago, auditioned for the Big Bad Wolf but got a call back to play Jack.

The Camille’s 61st season includes four plays and three musicals.

After “Into The Woods” comes Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” about the Salem witch trials Oct. 18-27 and Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 6-15.

The new year will bring Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” from Jan. 13-Feb. 9 and “Tartuffe,” the French play by Moliere, from Feb. 28-March 9.

“Tartuffe is from way back in the history of theater,” Binder said.

“It’s not done very often, so we’re excited to bring that to the stage. ‘Disaster: The Musical,’ which we have never done here, is a jukebox musical, but it’s ’70s music, and it’s going to be a very fun exploration of that kind of music,” Binder said.

“Disaster The Musical” is scheduled April 11-27. The season wraps up May 16-25 with “She Kills Monsters,” a drama by Qui Nguyen.

Binder said preparations for “Into The Woods” have been taking place for weeks behind the scenes.

“From audition to production, a lot of the pre-planning happens during the day with my creative team, which for this show is just me and my stage manager, my sister, Paulina,” Binder said.

The two of them go through the music, determine the difficult parts, and set up a rehearsal schedule.

“From the technical side, we’re creating the set, doing head shots for social media. We’re also doing hair, wigs, makeup as needed. So, both of those things are happening at the same time, so that as we get closer to the opening night, everything is ready,” Binder said.