Want to go?
WHAT: “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
WHERE: Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets, Dayton
WHEN: Feb. 9-14; 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Next Sunday
COST: $25-$132
TICKETS: (937) 228-3630 | www.ticketcenterstage.com
The latest national tour of the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Cinderella" waltzes into the Schuster Center Feb. 9-14 with a special brand of theatrical magic courtesy of the Victoria Theatre Association's Premier Health Broadway Series.
Here are 7 reasons why you should catch the local premiere of this cool, retooled adaptation.
1. A CINDERELLA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
There have been three TV incarnations of the musical: the original 1957 landmark starring Julie Andrews, the 1965 version starring Lesley Ann Warren and the 1997 Brandy/Whitney Houston telecast. In this revamped production, the core tale of a young woman transformed from chambermaid to princess is still intact, but a contemporary perspective adds a refreshing dynamic. Here, Cinderella, referred to as Ella, has more savvy and soul while being unafraid to take charge of her situations. Even the show's catchy tagline, "Glass slippers are so back," indicates a willingness to mark a playful, stark contrast from older versions.
2. THE GAME-CHANGING HEROINE
In this version, Ella not only fights for her own dreams, but forces Prince Topher to open his eyes to the world around him and realize his dreams, too. Ella particularly wows the crowd at the ball by turning a cruel game of ridicule into an eye-opening exploration of kindness. “The first thing I thought was that (librettist) Douglas Carter Beane had done a fantastic job of taking the traditional story of ‘Cinderella’ that everybody knows and keeping to the heart of it, but upending our expectations of how the characters were and how the story unraveled,” says director Mark Brokaw.
3. NOT-SO-EVIL STEPSISTERS AND MULTIPLE PRINCELY MEETINGS
Beane became particularly drawn to the original French version by Charles Perrault while writing his script. He felt his revamped account would greatly benefit from elements previously overlooked. “Cinderella didn’t just see the prince once,” Beane says. “She saw him a number of times and actually saved him from the viciousness of the court. And one of the evil stepsisters turned out to be OK. She helped Cinderella and had a boyfriend. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s a Rodgers and Hammerstein second couple.’ So, those simple things are big, beautiful things for a librettist. It gives you something to play with.”
4. TIMELESS SONGS THAT ENDURE AND INSPIRE
Encouragement to move mountains, make a wish come true, and believe that impossible things are happening every day are just some of the enduring, inspiring themes permeating within Rodgers and Hammerstein’s tuneful score. Songs such as “It’s Possible” and “There’s Music In You” beautifully bolsters Ella’s confidence as the story progresses. “Rodgers and Hammerstein tapped into a timelessness in their score that has made people revisit it time and time again,” says Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization.
5. WARDROBE WHIMSY
Costumer William Ivey Long received his sixth Tony Award for fashioning sumptuous, inventive and applause-inducing creations. Long designed 330 period costumes inspired by French painter Pieter Breughel’s “The Wedding Feast,” medieval knights, and the French court of Catherine de Medici. When the time came to create Cinderella’s striking outfits, movement was paramount. “The idea is that all the changing is done by a magic wand spinning her around,” Long says. “So, I tried to include the spinning in all (my) sketches, so you constantly saw movement. And then you have the crazy thing of: how do we do the magic transformations? Which, of course, I would have to kill you if I told you! There’s sad little Cinderella in the cinders. And then the Fairy Godmother twirls around and there’s an interim (which) I call the ectoplasm moment! And because, remember, magic is all around you, and in front of your very eyes, she (transforms)!”
6. GOWNS BY THE POUNDS
Ella’s elaborately eye-catching gowns dazzle to the hilt, but you might be surprised at how heavy they are. Davidson says Ella’s ball gown weighs 18 pounds and her wedding gown clocks in at a whopping 27 pounds. “There was definitely a period in which I had to work up my stamina to particularly do the ball scenes,” Davidson admitted. “The twirling, lifting, dancing, and kicking in the dress was a challenge. When I was a child, I absolutely loved playing dress-up so to be an actress as a profession and have people pay me to dress-up is wonderful.”
7. AN EMPOWERING MESSAGE
“I want those mothers out there to know that it is the classic ‘Cinderella,’” says producer Robyn Goodman. “The glass slipper is there and he has to find her, and the Fairy Godmother and the Wicked Stepmother are there. It just has a slight modern spin on it so that girls feel princesses can save the world (and be) proactive and compassionate. The basic theme of the show is kindness.”
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