Fairy tale characters are jumping off the page and onto the stage when Hampton High School presents "Into the Woods."

The show is an award-winning musical by Stephen Sondheim, based on the book by James Lapine, that tells the stories of various characters like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella, all tied together by a Baker and his wife who want to start a family.

Dan Franklin, an art teacher at the school, has taken over directing duties this year, as opposed to just the technical directing that he has done in the past. Fellow technology teacher Andrew Halter has moved from his usual directing to focus primarily on production this year.

Franklin and Halter both agreed that the reason they chose "Into the Woods" to perform this year is because of the challenge and because Franklin really loves the show.

"This has always been one of my favorite shows," Franklin says, pointing out the beautiful music that goes along with it.

"Dan's been dying to do this for a long time," Halter adds.

Even though it is a challenging show, Franklin says this year's students are really up to the task of presenting it well.

"We felt we had the right talent base to pull this off," he says. "It's a stunning dedication we have."

There are 41 students altogether in the cast, as lead roles and ensemble players. There are 85 total working on the production, including the musicians in the pit and the stage crew. They really did have to be dedicated this year because the group started about a month earlier than usual with each step of the process to make sure they would get everything done on time.

Franklin says it helps that the students are familiar with a lot of the characters in the show, but two of the more central roles -- the Baker and his wife -- were ones that the students needed to learn.

Adding to the difficulty of this year's show is the addition of the ensemble cast. The original musical wasn't written with the ensemble, which means the choreographers, directors and students had to put some extra work in to come up with the various dances for the cast.

"You get a lot more opportunity to be more creative with the show," Franklin says. "You can go so much deeper."

Rachel Perry, a 17-year-old senior, is playing the role of the Baker's wife. While she's performed in Hampton shows before, this is her first lead character, which she says is a little bit different than the past, but has still gone really well.

As far as her character goes, she says that even though many people won't be familiar with her, they'll catch on quickly to the story line.

"Once it starts they'll really understand our dilemma," Rachel says, "and how we overcome it."

Hampton High School presents "Into the Woods" at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, and at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12. The shows will be at the high school auditorium.

Tickets are $7 and available at the door or by pre-ordering. For tickets, contact Andrew Halter at 412-486-6000, ext. 1066, or at halter@htsd.k12.pa.us.