By Michelle Yousefzadeh

“Into the Woods,” the upper school musical, will be performed this weekend. There will be one performance on Friday and Sunday and two performances on Saturday in Rugby Theater.

The musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine intertwines the plots of fairytale characters from “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel,” and “Cinderella,” tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family.

Seventeen hours of auditions were necessary to choose the 24 students cast. Leads include Kat Arenella ’10 as Cinderella, Ben Platt ’11 as Baker, Emily Altschul ’09 as Baker’s Wife, Chase Morgan ’09 as Narrator, Beanie Feldstein ’11 as Little Red Riding Hood, Nick Lieberman ’11 as Jack and Serena Berman ’09 as Witch.

Co-Directors Ted Walch and Michele Spears have included five more roles to expand the cast, Walch said.

Tickets can be purchased on-line or at the bookstore for $15.

This year’s big surprise was the quality of talent from the sophomores, Walch said.

“In a school as talented as Harvard-Westlake, we see a lot of talented people who just aren’t right for the part,” Walch said, “but we always go into the casting sessions with a blank slate, always.”