Help with Into The Woods double casting

[icecreambenjamin]

I need an extremely small cast (around 10) for a production and I'm wondering if anyone knows the best way to double cast this show.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Narrator/Mysterious Man
Cinderella
Red Riding Hood
Rapunzel/Jack's Mother/Cinderella's Mother
Florinda
Lucinda
Jack
Baker
Baker's Wife
Witch
Cinderella's Prince/Wolf
Rapunzel's Prince
Granny/Stepmother
Steward/Milky White (if casting with human)/Cinderella's Father (if using)

This is the best you'll do probably since a lot of the time, there are large ensemble-type scenes where most of the characters are either on stage at once or are ready to come on as soon as the other exits. It all depends on what way you're staging the show - if you're staging it in a minimalist, bare-space sense, you can afford to have actors quickly change one aspect of their costume (i.e. for Granny, simply putting a robe on etc.) as opposed to having elaborate changes.

[AlbertPeterson3]

We did it with ten! This was our cast:

Narrator/Mysterious Man
The Baker
The Baker's Wife
The Witch
Cinderella
Little Red Ridinghood/Rapunzel/Cinderella's Mother
Cinderella's Prince/Wolf/Lucinda (in drag)
Rapunzel's Prince/Cinderella's Father/Florinda (in drag)
Jack's Mother/Granny/Cinderella's Stepmother
Jack/Steward

[Musicaldudepeter]

Cool!

Love the way Jack becomes the Steward who kills his mother!

[icecreambenjamin]

Perfect!
Thanks :)

[Kad]

Fiasco Theatre's production did it with ten actors, as well. Their breakdown was extremely similar to AlbertPeterson's.

[Wildcard]

The Fiasco production had 10 actors. Not sure about the exact breakdown but it was something like this:
1) Baker
2) Baker's wife
3) Witch
4) Cinderella
5) Little Red
6) Jack
7) Wolf/Cinderella's Prince/Stepsister
Milky White/Rapunzel's Prince/Stepsister
9) Stepmother/Cinderella's Mother/Giant
10) Narrator/Steward/Mysterious Man

[AlbertPeterson3]

Correction - we actually had the same actress play both Cinderella and Rapunzel (which I thought worked really well!).

[Brave Sir Robin2]

I love having the sisters in drag. A fun touch that adds to the haughtiness of the characters!

[xxdrewboy85xx]

fiasco also didn't have a narrator, the ensemble split up the lines and they just didn't sacrifice him.

The hypocrites in Chicago did it with 10, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe little red also played one of the step sisters, the witch also played granny, and Rapunzel and Cinderella doubled.

I'm currently directing a production with a cast of 12. Originally I wanted 10 but I ended up adding 2 extra actors.

[icecreambenjamin]

I thought about having our onstage pianist double as the narrator but I'm not sure about that yet.

[Kad]

That could be interesting. And also problematic when he is sacrificed.

[2blocksfrombway]

Fiasco's breakdown was

1) Baker's Wife
2) Lucinda, Wolf, Cinderella's Prince
3) Mysterious Man
4) Milky White, Florinda, Rapunzel's Prince
5) Cinderella's Stepmother, Jack's Mother
6) Cinderella, Granny
7) Witch
Jack, Steward
9) Baker
10) Little Red, Rapunzel