Rehearsals have started for a new show coming to the PAC this January. Harvey Players will present “Into the Woods,” a musical written by Stephen Sondheim and directed by theatre teacher, Celeste Schneider. This is Scheider’s first year teaching at Vandegrift, and Into the Woods will be the first high school musical she’s ever directed.

“’Into the Woods’ is honestly one of the most difficult musicals there is to do,” Schneider said. “I decided to do a really hard one out of the gate. It’s scary, but so exciting.”

The musical follows the storylines of classic fairy tales including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Rapunzel.”

“What I am most looking forward to is how we are going to present the characters,” head technical director John Connor said. “Doing the characters justice is going to be important.”

82 students signed up to audition, and 69 members made the official cast list. The musical is double casted, meaning that each role has two performers with different performance dates.

“The double cast is definitely going to be a challenge,” Schneider said. “But it also gives more kids an opportunity to be in the show.”

“Into the Woods” traditionally has a small ensemble, but Schneider decided to write in a larger one in order to incorporate more people into the performance. There are 23 members in the ensemble.

“One of our biggest challenges is going to be managing the stage space that we have,” assistant technical director Jonathan Alonso said. “Certain numbers need a certain amount of stage room, so that’s where our planning is going to need to come in.”

Alonso started planning the set with Connor two weeks before auditions took place on Sept. 29.

“There will be some technical difficulties with set pieces and lighting,” Connor said. “But the biggest difficulties will be in costume and makeup because everyone has their vision of each character.”