BRIDGEWATER, NJ -- A high school student from Basking Ridge is producing and directing his second all-student musical.

Max Rodriguez, a rising sophomore at Ridge High School, is the director of "Into the Woods," which will be performed on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 5 p.m. at the Nash Theater at Raritan Valley Community College.

In a far-off kingdom there lived a maiden named Cinderella (Annika Helgeson), who wished to attend a king’s festival and encounters a charming prince (Jack Hicks), a lad named Jack (Nathan Schwed), forced to sell his beloved cow for food to eat, a young girl in a red cape, in search of her grandmother’s house (Rebecca Candeloro), and a baker (Ryan Quish) and his wife (Mia Montero), who learn that the only way to lift a witch’s (Annabel DelGiorno) curse of a childless life, is by retrieving four mysterious objects: A cow as white as milk, a cape as red blood, hair as yellow as corn, and slippers and pure as gold.

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To achieve their wishes, these characters must journey into the woods, where they will make choices, learn more about themselves and the world they in which they live, and realize that “No One Is Alone.”

Tickets for “Into the Woods” are on sale already at the website under Tickets Online.

"Into the Woods" is directed by Max Rodriguez (sophomore), musically directed by Matthew White (a 2019 graduate), and has a crew organized by stage manager Mady Weber (sophomore). The production is comprised of an all-youth cast, crew and production team from Basking Ridge, Bernardsville, Berkeley Heights and Hasbrouck Heights.

There is no charge for the show (other than the theater’s ticket processing fee). The show will be presented by performers who know these childhood stories by heart.

The cast:
Harry Hess (Narrator), Annika Helgeson (Cinderella), Nathan Schwed (Jack), Ryan Quish (the Baker), Mia Montero (the Baker's wife), Amelia Lothrop (the Stepmother), Christine Haggard (Florinda), Hannah Flatley (Lucinda), Josie Dennis (Jack's mother), Rebecca Candeloro (Red Riding Hood), Annabel DelGiorno (the Witch), Gavin Turner (Cinderella's father), Katie Maratea (Cinderella's mother, Granny, Giantess), Jonah Kartush (the Mysterious Man), Jack Hicks (Cinderella's Prince, the Wolf), Morgan Beatty (Rapunzel), Oscar Grob (Rapunzel's Prince), Mohinder Singh (the Steward), Morgan Connell (Sleeping Beauty, Swing, Dance Captain)