NEW SCOTLAND — Students in Voorheesville met and embraced the genius of Stephen Sondheim’s music. The Voorheesville Dionysians will perform “Into the Woods” at the Lydia C. Tobler Performing Arts Center March 18 to March 20.

“The music is the hardest music we’ve done in Voorheesville,” said Director Matt Robinson. “The score is literally double the length of ‘Fiddler,’ that we did before.”

Last year, with many of the same student actors, the Dionysians performed “Fiddler on the Roof,” with a famous bottle dance.

“There’s no dancing, showstopping number,” Robinson said of “Into the Woods.” “There’s more focus on character, story, and theme. It’s centered on the character and the music — those things drive the show.”

The students were sceptical of the show, at first, he said. With book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by Sondheim, student enthusiasm grew, he said.

“The more they learned about Sondheim and the show, they fell in love with his music. He’s a genius,” Robinson said. “Once the kids figured that out, they knew it was special.”

The play features a baker and his wife who journey among fairytale creatures in their quest to begin a family, after a witch has cursed them.

Senior Stefanie DeFronzo plays Cinderella.

“I love her. I think she’s great. She’s not the Disney character,” DeFronzo said. “Lapine and Sondheim used the Cinderella from the Grimm story more, and built their own interpretation of her. She’s not all fairy dust. There is some magic I get to do onstage, so that’s pretty cool.

“It’s a really hard show,” she continued. “The concepts are hard to grasp. We’ve worked incredibly hard on the the show.”

She described the theme of the play as, “Be careful what you wish for, and be careful of what you say.”

Robinson said that the first act of the musical ends happily.

“The second act is nice, for me,” he said. “The second act turns everything on its head. This is my favorite. It has so many great moments in it.”

DeFronzo offered a tip to audience members: “Really listen to the lyrics. They’re genius. An audience member can find themselves in each character.”

Robinson agreed, saying that audience members should “look for the moments that really hit home for them.”

The set is not complex, he said. While the set does not change, the show uses many props and lighting changes, he said.

“The kids are up there, themselves. They are up there totally on their own and they’re doing a hell of a job,” he said.

Backstage, the students are working, too, he said. One runs the show cue-by-cue, and others run the lights and sound.

“It will literally be the kids running the show,” Robinson said.

The cast includes 35 students and the crew has 10 — a big number for a small show, he said.

“It’s not designed to be a big-cast show, but we made it work,” he said. “I wanted to expose the kids to something different. I wanted to do something that wasn’t typical of what we’ve done.”

“The show’s going amazing, with all the pit there and the talented actors,” said Student Director Cassidy Danz. Two students play in the show’s orchestra. She praised the hard work of her stage crew and the adult volunteers helping with the production.

“The costumes are really amazing this year. It’s an awesome thing,” she said. “There are a lot of really cool parts. If you listen closely, there are jokes hidden in there.”

Though the set is simple, Danz said that she loves the scenery, including a tree with special lighting.

A sophomore, Danz moved from the middle school stage to behind the scenes this year.

“I like, more, the student directing aspect,” she said. “Acting was fun, but...I get to share with all the actors and meet people in stage crew that I didn’t get to meet before. I had to make sure everyone was at rehearsal on time. If they weren’t, I called them. I took stage notes. I’m giving cues for action and props. I go early for every rehearsal to make sure everything is set up.”

Danz and the crew also sweep the stage and make sure lights are ready each rehearsal, she said.

“I do a lot of things, but not too many. I don’t have a lot of stress,” she said. “I find it to be a lot of fun.”

“The kids have worked really hard,” Robinson said. “They’re going to do a good job. I’m excited.”

“On behalf of the whole cast and crew,” DeFronzo said, “we’d like to thank Mr. Robinson. Our class was the first class he directed. He stuck with us for four years. We thank him for that. It’s been a fun four years.”

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The Voorheesville Dionysians will perform ‘Into the Woods’ at the Lydia C. Tobler Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 18, at 7 p.m., on Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, March 20, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.