Cinderella

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

To some it will be fun. To some it will be pretty. To some entertaining; to some for the children.

Melissa Benoist as Cinderella and Seth Caikowski as the Prince in Town Hall Arts Center’s production of Cinderella.

To write it off, as a once upon a time children’s story is to miss the magical point it cradles.

Something there is about the age-old tale of Cinderella that feeds the DNA of humanity providing a sustenance that cannot be gleaned from any other source.

Something there is about the magnificent magical reality of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella that vibrates with intensity. There’s more to it than just the Prince Charming and happily ever after. When this musical is produced in professional glory as Town Hall’s current production, theatre can’t get any better fostering dreams of hope of a future.

Directed by Sharlene Wanger, she adds the touch to the exquisite cast knowing the magical secret behind Cinderella. She knows the secret of a wish, and it shows with precise natural direction. The beautiful choreography fits into the direction like a hand in a silk glove designed by Debbie Stark and Cindy Bray. The choreography fits the story, the music, the cast, as warm and natural as the sun on a cloudless day. It belongs.

Watching it through the eyes of a magical friend, Nora Gift (see Guest Review) created a brand new Cinderella experience. She wanted to know where the lights came from once the house was dark. She wanted to know if there would be horses for the coach, and would there be white mice. When the ingenious coach rolled out, she whispered. “There is a horse.” Never mind it was an actor dressed in white wearing a horse’s head. It was a horse, and that’s what was important, and she’s oh, so right.

To the modern English speaking world, Disney’s classic 1951 animated film is what most people think of when the Fairy Tale is mentioned. With variations, every culture fostered their own Cinderella tale. The earliest known recorded version has been traced to China in 680 A.D. Every culture adapted it to their own specific needs. Sometimes the slipper is made of fur, sometimes leather, sometimes gold. Sometimes it is not a slipper at all, it is a ring or bracelet that can only be directed back to Cinderella. The modern sanitized tale does not concern itself with the size of the slipper. Only Cinderella can wear it. Once upon a time China bound the feet of women to ensure small feet, a treasured female quality. It has been suggested this tradition began as a direct result of the 680 A.D. story.

Hundreds of versions came into their own reality emphasizing unjust oppression and triumphant rewards. Someone once answered the question what is a fairy tale with “a poetic presentation of a spiritual truth.”

Melissa Benoist captures the inside/outside totality of Cinderella with her beauty, her golden clear voice, her expertise, her choreographed grace, and the innocent air of expectation in the power of a wish. Spectacular in her simplicity, Benoist brings Cinderella close to home in identity.

No wonder Prince Christopher (Seth Caikowski) loses his heart when he sees the brown haired beauty in a gorgeous gown enter the ballroom. He sees into her soul, loaned to Cinderella by Benoist. Caikowski plays the perfect prince, living in reality, torn between his mother’s pressure and his father’s down to earth honest concern, but living to find his own way in his own time. Caikowski is honest with Christopher making him forever real.

There’s a hustle in her bustle that actually keeps time to the music. Deborah Persoff’s adaptation of the Wicked Stepmother isn’t wicked, mean or nasty. Persoff shows Beulah’s vulnerabilities through snobbish haughty looking down her nose at outside society pretending to be someone she isn’t. Critical of her two daughters Joy (Kristin Kreig) and Portia (Maggie Tisdale) at the same time having bonded with them, she shovels out a protective essence toward the two misfits who would like to pretend they are someone they aren’t. They just haven’t learned yet the sharp chiseled effect their mother has. Undoubtedly, they’ll learn.

No one is mean to Cinderella; just demanding. Wanting to be served hand and foot, Cinderella is the logical choice since no one else is available. This Cinderella isn’t crucially abused, just put in her place and never allowed to forget what her place is. Cinderella’s psyche isn’t damaged, just delayed. Her wish remains strong. The more the attempt to dissuade her, the stronger her wish grows. Every great idea begins with a wish, a wanting, a hope, which is far more valuable in this tale than the happily ever after attributed to it.

Carla Kaiser Kotre’s presence of the Fairy Godmother flirts with realism. Miracles and magic happen after everyone has done what they can do so no one becomes dependent on the magic. It’s written in her face, compassion for Cinderella. Everyone should have a godmother as characterized by Kotre. With her rich voice, her sensitive spirit, hands filled with magic glitter, and discretion when and how to use it. That’s her magic, and Kotre magnifies the intent with perfection.

Phi Bernier as the King is hysterical without being a complete buffoon, He’s human even when dressed in polka dot shorts and a stripped shirt, He has his son’s best interest at heart, and providing that rich quality of not just being a cartoon caricature.

Nancy E. Harris as the Queen deliciously gives a down to earth mother’s concern. She wants what’s best for her son, just slightly impatient for it to happen. Wanting good things, but she wants them now. The queen’s concern for her son to find the right perspective wife, the king unconcerned, lives even in today’s footloose society.

With gorgeous animated voices the cast brings the memorable Hammerstein/Rodgers music to effervescent life with such songs as: “The Prince Is Giving a Ball,” “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful,” and “Falling Love With Love.”

The costumes designed by Jim Miller appear to be dictated by the fairy tale itself. Each costume contributes to the quality and depth of each character, which is what costuming, is all about.

Jennifer Otto-Zedalis designed the lighting effects, adding its own explanation in power points to the magical story.

The harshest critics of all, the two-year-old and up set sat still in their seats in silence and awe with eyes glued to the stage. That says more about a production than anything else possibly can. A few stood out in their Cinderella dresses capped with glistening tiaras. They know their dreams and if they hang onto them without allowing the cynical world to bore holes through them, they will one day meet their own Fairy Godmother who will expect them to work as hard as they can to achieve their dreams without magic dust doing it for them.

Cinderella lives eternally. Sparking the imagination of hopes and dreams of babes in diapers to three-year-old young ladies dressed in Cinderella dresses and tiaras. It is sad when that dream gets lost in the shuffle, thrilling when the dream grows with maturity, and doesn’t die.

This production of Cinderella is an absolutely positively “su-purr-b” production that should be experienced by every child from three to 103, especially here, especially now at the beginning of the Holiday season in its purest form, with it purest magic, with its purest fun, Adults don’t need to have a child accompany them, although it helps to see through their eyes. There’s magic even in the most hardened and cynical, even those who claim there is no Fairy Godmother. There is one waiting and she has a message that wants to be heard.