PCPA’s DeLaurier Heads ‘Into the Woods’… and Retirement

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) associate artistic director Roger DeLaurier is retiring at the end of the summer, heading off into the woods after 34 years and following one last time helming a show, which just so happens to be Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, a magical, memorable, and moral-filled adaptation of Brothers Grimm stories and other fairy tales. 

“I didn’t plan for this to be my final show, but the pandemic postponed it for two years,” DeLaurier said. “I have never directed a full Sondheim piece before, so it worked out well because he’s a genius and one of the greats of musical theater.”

Into the Woods is a highly-imaginative and almost revolutionary work that employs the characters and plots of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and the non-Grimm Jack and the Beanstalk, to spin what the director called “a fairy tale for grownups, where the first act is all about wish fulfillment and the idea of happy endings before act two looks at what happens when your wish comes true.” 

Sondheim’s songs mark the stages of the class hero’s journey, often repeated and altered in the course of the musical, evidencing how much the characters have learned and changed through success and loss. 

“It’s about the journey of life and how we explore and grow and deal with the hard things that happen throughout our time here,” DeLaurier said. “It’s complicated, but it’s also really funny, and the big resolution is understanding that we need connection with other people even though we might think we can make it through life by ourselves. That’s the message of the central song ‘No One Is Alone.’” 

The musical’s enduring appeal is evidenced by a current remounting on Broadway that is yet another smash hit. PCPA’s version is also a re-staging as the show moves from a spring production in Santa Maria to the Solvang Festival Theater for an August 11 to September 4 run. 

While Into the Woods marks DeLaurier’s PCPA swan song after more than 60 productions, it’s also the first venture for the rep company since the theater just completed renovations. 

“It’s wonderful to be performing outside because the majority of the show takes place out in the forest, under the sky and the stars,” he said. “And the new renovations make the space feel much more intimate, more like a room without a ceiling as opposed to a bowl. The sound is much improved, through engineering but also higher walls to keep out the noise of the town. I think it’s going to make everybody feel much more connected.” 

Which, of course, is the message of the musical.