Jack and the Beanstalk: A Musical Adventure

Julia is a Harvard College student concentrating in Theater, Dance & Media and Music, and she is from St. Louis, Missouri!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
Growing up, I LOVED Gail Carson Levine’s fairy tale adaptations: Ella Enchanted, Fairest, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, and more.

What traits do you share with the characters in the show?
I share many traits with the characters! For example, Buttercup and I both love carrots.

What is something special about you that makes you stand out?
I LOVE vegetables! Except asparagus.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
Kindness, courage, determination, and creativity!

What do you like most about being a writer and a composer?
Bringing families, friends, and even strangers together with the magic of music and stories!

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
Don’t be afraid to dream big and climb high. Your story’s up to you!

Rebecca Aparicio is a NYC-based director and writer thrilled to be back at the A.R.T, who also loves developing musicals for young audiences with her theater company, The Magic Forest.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
The Secret Garden. I loved this book because it showed how love and friendship can overcome even the hardest of situations.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
A magical land where there is only love. Everyone lives together in harmony with magical unicorns and rainbows are everywhere you look. Every meal is filled with chocolate, and the weather is always sunny.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A heart of gold is full of love, compassion, and empathy. It’s giving freely as Jack does in our story. Even though Jack only has one jar of milk left, she can’t bear the thought of the Bean Peddler going thirsty, so she gives her the milk. Helping others is the greatest thing you can do.

What do you like most about being a director?
Every day feels like playtime because you get to use your imagination to make stories come to life!

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
The best advice is the advice Itsy gives in “To The Top,” which is Don’t Give Up! With determination, you can achieve anything by staying focused on your goal, no matter how hard things get!

(he/they) A.R.T.: WILD: A Musical Becoming, Jack and the Beanstalk: A Musical Adventure, Thumbelina: A Little Musical. Regional: The East Side, Central Square Theater; One Song Glory, Musical Stage Company; Home for the Holidays, Playdate Theatre. TV: “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies,” Paramount+. Workshops: Shimcheong: A Folktale; The East Side. Educational: The More You Know, Cruising Altitude, Miss You ’Til Tomorrow, Into The Woods, Legally Blonde, West Side Story, Fun Home.

Johnathan Carr is a filmmaker and media designer producing video with A.R.T. for over ten years, currently working atop a pile of hard drives in his native Boston.

What is your favorite animal?
I have a strong affinity for cats, but I would say the dragonfly is actually my favorite animal. Dragonflies are said to appear after a crisis to let us know things are safe. They have bright colors, fly in geometric patterns, are friendly to humans and, best of all, they eat mosquitos!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. It’s a magically real story of a boy who runs away to live in the wilderness, Thoreau style.

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
My advice to our young viewers is to always have a journal with you, a real notebook with a real pen or pencil. Write ideas, sketch drawings, keep a diary. Even the best digital tablets have not captured the feeling of giving your thoughts a physical form on paper.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A heart of gold does not put gold before the heart.

Alex Giorgetti is a musician, producer and engineer in the Boston area and the Sound Supervisor at OBERON at the American Repertory Theater.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
Corduroy

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
To a place where I could play piano outside all day and where people respected themselves, each other, and the natural world.

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
Whatever you do—for play, for work, or for school—put your all into it so you can find out what you enjoy the most and what gives you the most self-validation. Then, focus on that.

Elizabeth is a former illustrator turned costume designer working in Boston.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
The Wind in the Willows

What is something special about you that makes you stand out?
I have a strange imagination.

What do you like most about being a costume designer?
I like getting to play dress-up with all kinds of different people!

Finn Bamber is a junior at Harvard College studying Theater, Dance & Media, working out of Basel, Switzerland!

What is your favorite animal?
My favorite animal right now is probably an octopus because they are very smart and can solve puzzles!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
I loved reading The Rainbow Fish as a kid, and as an adult.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
One of the virtues that The Rainbow Fish promotes is sharing love and sharing color, which are undoubtedly key parts of a golden heart!

Cynthia Lee-Sullivan is in her thirty-seventh season at the American Repertory Theater, most of them as the Properties Manager. She grew up in South Bend, Indiana, attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Production from the University of Georgia. She’s had the opportunity to work with all of A.R.T.’s Artistic Directors, many other great theater directors, scores of designers, and theatrical troupes as diverse as Punchdrunk and Le Cirque Invisible.

What do you like most about being a props designer?
The best part of working in props is the creativity, craftiness, and ingenuity involved in getting a show up.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
If I found a magic beanstalk I would climb to the place where all my friends and family who aren’t here anymore have gone.

What is something special about you that makes you stand out?
My energy, enthusiasm, and green eyes are what make me stand out.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A few qualities found in a golden heart are kindness, generosity, and compassion.

Dave Monteagudo is a theater director, film editor, and co-founder of Adventure Society.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
My favorite book growing up was Chicken Little because my wonderful mother would do voices for all the animals!

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
I’d want my magic beanstalk to lead to Puppy-land, which is obviously a magical kingdom where all the dogs live and play with humans all day long.

What is your favorite animal and why?
My favorite animal is my dog Taco, because he’s the cutest and bestest pup in town.

What do you like most about being a theater artist?
My favorite thing about being a storyteller is creating magical moments that enchant audiences and transport them somewhere beyond reality. Strive for fearlessness. Embrace your imagination. And don’t be afraid to get weird.

David Mortellito is a NYC-based Scenic Artist and member of Adventure Society, a group that focuses on developing game-based theater and similar artistic endeavors.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
My favorite book growing up was Joust by Mercedes Lackey, which is a story about a young serf named Vetch who works for a Dragon Jouster. Vetch learns about the special bond his new master has with his dragon. The only way to do this is to hatch a dragon egg by yourself. Vetch eventually hatches his own dragon, and together, they escape back to his home country across the desert.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
I would love it if the beanstalk led to an enormous TV and a gigantic cloud couch, which would be the most comfortable couch in the entire universe. It would be sooo big and comfortable that everyone could hang out and not bump each other’s elbows.

What is your favorite animal and why?
My favorite animal is the Komodo Dragon, which can be found on Komodo Island and a handful of other Indonesian Islands. The Komodo Dragon is an awesome animal whose saliva can kill a person. Scientists are still studying its saliva to determine if it produces venom, cultivates toxins in its mouth (from a severe lack of oral hygiene), or a combination of the two. Females have been known to undergo parthenogenesis, which means they can sometimes lay eggs that will hatch without the help of a male dragon.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A heart of gold is made up of many different virtues which anyone can have. I studied Taekwondo when I was growing up, and we had five tenets which, if practiced, help a person to be virtuous. Those tenets are Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. If a person achieves these things, they likely have a heart of gold.

Abbie Sage is a senior at Harvard College studying History & Literature and Zooming in from Hinsdale, Massachusetts, hoping to pursue a career in stage management and arts administration.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
I always loved the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and had a whole book of them as a kid.

What is your favorite animal and why?
I absolutely love cows (Buttercup specifically) and have since I was little.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
I think having a heart of gold comes from kindness, empathy, and a desire to do right by others.

Joy Nesbitt is a senior in Harvard College’s Leverett House studying Social Anthropology and Music, currently located in Dallas, TX. She is so excited to be on the Jack and the Beanstalk team!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale when you were growing up?
My favorite fairy tale growing up was The Princess and the Frog with Princess Tiana.

What is your favorite animal?
My favorite animal is a Meerkat because they exhibit qualities that I know all too well: a little bit of spunk, a little bit of nervousness, and a whole lot of planning!

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
Find the power inside of you and use it to do great things!

Sedona is currently a junior at Harvard College studying Music and is performing from Los Angeles, California.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
If I found a magic beanstalk, I would want it to lead to a world where artists of any type could roam around freely doing their art every day without other worries. Without distractions from the real world, artists could unleash their craziest ideas and collaborate with any artist they could dream up.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
The qualities that make up a heart of gold would be compassion, empathy, and altruism. In this day and age, it is of utmost importance that we take extra care of the people around us, even if it means committing the smallest act of kindness. It is easy to get caught up focusing on your reality, which is critical, but it never hurts to spend a minute or two each day checking in with a family, friend, neighbor, or even stranger.

What do you like most about being a musician?
The thing I like most about being a performer is that I get to make composers’ and writers’ ideas come to life. Artists’ collaborations function like a family. We each play our part and, as a result, we are left with a satisfying and unified outcome.

A.R.T.: Amal Walks Across America, Macbeth In Stride, Jack and the Beanstalk. She is a recent graduate of the dual program between Harvard and Berklee and the recipient of the Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize for musical theater. Member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.

Noah is a Harvard College sophomore (class of 2023) from New Jersey, studying Statistics.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
If I had a magic beanstalk, I would want it to lead to Gao Thai Kitchen in Ramsey, NJ. They have the best Crispy Calamari I’ve ever tasted.

What is your favorite animal and why?
My favorite animal is a Dachshund puppy. They have really stubby legs and long bodies, and I really want one when I’m a bit older.

What do you like most about being a musician?
I love collaborating with my peers because music is meant to be played with others! Productions are more meaningful and fun when they are performed by a group of artists with a collective and unified vision. Also, celebrating a successful production with your colleagues is always a good time 😉

Alyssa is a junior at Harvard College hailing from northern New Jersey studying History of Science!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
My favorite book growing up was The Giving Tree—it always taught me the importance of giving back.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A heart of gold has the qualities of courage, understanding, and optimism.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
If I found a magic beanstalk, I would want it to lead to a place where I can see the whole universe at once.

Heather M. Morris is the Assistant Scenic Charge Artist at the American Repertory Theater and has been painting scenery for productions since 2010.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
The Last Unicorn

What do you like most about being a scenic artist?
I get to make magical places come to life!

What advice do you have for younger audience members?
Making art can be fun, but it’s also very important!

Jeffrey Burrows is a theater artist who has been painting and dyeing fabric, making hats, jewelry, footwear, armor, foam structures, puppets, and masks at the A.R.T. for over eight years.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
My favorite twenty-five books were the Freddy the Pig series. They were wonderfully illustrated stories about a clever little pig who lived on a farm in rural upstate New York. Freddy can talk and tries his hand at being a detective, politician, newspaper editor, pilot, and a magician.

If you found a magic beanstalk, where would you want it to lead?
Hopefully Japan because I admire their love of the arts. I also think the beanstalk would eventually have to start growing horizontally instead of vertically to get there. This would be great for me because I am afraid of heights.

What is a word of advice you have for young audience members?
No one is perfect. That is why pencils have erasers.

Patrick Goodsell is the Props Carpenter for the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in furniture and musical instrument construction.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
As an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, I believe in a good fairy tale. My favorite story growing up was The 13 Clocks by James Thurber.

What is a word of advice you have for young audience members?
My advice to audiences both young and old is simply to be kind.

Mariya Sudarska is the Assistant Props Manager at the A.R.T. She has done a number of productions with the company, as well as an array of shows in Boston, New York, and beyond!

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
When I was very little, my favorite book was a collection of fairy tales by Alexander Pushkin. When I got a little older, it was the Harry Potter series.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
A heart of gold is a kind heart, a heart that is empathetic and fair.   

What is a word of advice you have for young audience members?
Remain curious and continue to believe in magic.

Erika Bailey lives in the Boston area and is the head of Voice and Speech at American Repertory Theater.

What was your favorite book or fairy tale growing up?
Theater Shoes by Noel Streatfield.

What do you like most about being a voice teacher?
My favorite thing about being a voice teacher is that I teach people to raise their voices to speak about things that are important.

What qualities do you think make up a heart of gold?
I think that a heart of gold comes from being a good listener who responds generously.