'Into the Woods' Revival Extends its Broadway Run
The acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s award-winning musical has been extended for an additional eight weeks at the St. James Theatre. The buzzworthy production features work from two Columbia theatre artists: Adjunct Assistant Professor Justin Scribner and Adjunct Assistant Professor Cody Renard Richard, who serve as Production Stage Manager and Production Supervisor respectively.
The production, which is helmed by Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet, opened on July 10th, 2022, and was originally slated to close on August 19, 2022. However, audiences will now have the opportunity to see the show this fall. In her review for the New York Times, Alexis Soloski called the revival “a work of giddy playfulness and moral seriousness. Into the Woods forges a path from innocence into experience. It asks its characters (the surviving ones, anyway) to exchange the narcissism of childhood—the wishing, the wanting—for a more nuanced ethical framework that emphasizes interdependence.”
Audiences flocking to the revival will be treated to performances from a star-studded cast that includes Sara Bareilles (Waitress), Brian D’Arcy James (The Ferryman, Hamilton, Something Rotten), Patina Miller (Pippin, Sister Act), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton), and more.
Jordan Roth, lead producer of the revival and President of Jujamcyn Theatres, spoke to Broadway News about the excitement surrounding the revival: “What’s been so extraordinary is, from the very first moments, the experience of this show has been undeniable—the energy, joy, meaning that is reverberating through the theater has just been so palpable, from audience, artists onstage, everybody backstage, front of house, office. It has been communal magic-making. This is lightning in a bottle.”
Tickets for Into the Woods are now on sale through October 16, 2022.
Justin Scribner is a stage manager, producer, playwright, poet, and self-care advocate. He has over twenty years of experience stage managing plays and musicals on and off Broadway and around the country and was most recently the Production Stage Manager of Into the Woods on Broadway. Justin was also the PSM for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe with Cecily Strong at The Shed and the Mark Taper Forum as well as the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Once On This Island, for which he also served as the Associate Director of its National Tour. Other Broadway stage managing credits include The Crucible, Rock of Ages, God of Carnage, The American Plan, A Chorus Line, RENT, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Lennon, Pacific Overtures, Jumpers, Little Shop of Horrors, Nine, and the smash-hit Skittles: The Musical. As a freelance stage manager, Justin regularly works various corporate events, meetings, conferences, festivals, charity galas, award shows, concerts, staged readings, workshops, and developmental labs of new plays and musicals. He is the Producing Director of The Forest of Arden, a diverse company of multi-disciplinary artists devising immersive theatrical experiences with an emphasis on site-specific work and innovative technologies, while serving local communities. Justin’s first collection of poetry and short stories, every grain of sand, was published in November 2020.
Cody Renard Richard is a Tony Award winning Producer, Advocate, Educator, and professional Stage Manager with a career that spans many genres including Broadway, Television, Cirque Du Soleil and Opera. On Broadway, he has worked as a full time and substitute Stage Manager on 15 productions, and is currently the Production Supervisor for Into the Woods on Broadway. Other Broadway: Freestyle Love Supreme (x2), Pass Over, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Lion King, Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour, Kinky Boots, If/Then, After Midnight, Motown the Musical, Ghost the Musical, Cyrano de Bergerac and Lysistrata Jones. TV: 2021 & 2019 Tony Awards, 2020 & 2019 MTV VMAs, Annie Live!, Jesus Christ Superstar Live!, Hairspray Live!, The Wiz Live!, Cirque du Soleil: OVO, Wintuk. Off Broadway/NY: Porgy and Bess (Metropolitan Opera – Assistant Stage Director), Candide at Carnegie Hall, 7 productions with NY City Center Encores!, The Public Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company, 2nd Stage, Transport Group, Pearl Theatre Company. Selected Regional: Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse and Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Muny, TUTS, Stages STL, Kansas City Rep, Alley Theatre, Repertory Theatre of STL. As a Producer, Cody is currently a co-producer for the Tony Award Winning production of A Strange Loop on Broadway and for the National Tour of the Tony Award winning production of Moulin Rouge. In addition to his production credits, he has served as adjunct faculty at New York University and Fordham University. As an advocate for change and equity, Cody has appeared live on CNN and has been interviewed on WNBC. Cody has been featured by Variety Magazine as one of their 2020 Broadway Players to Watch, Out Magazine as a 2020 OUT100 honoree and in Forbes. He was also honored as a part of the Kennedy Center's Next 50 list in 2022. He launched The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program in partnership with Broadway Advocacy Coalition in Sept of 2020 and holds a BFA in Stage Management from Webster Conservatory. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Directors Guild of America.