CINDERELLA Has a New Pair of Glass Slippers

Of all the majestic American Broadway musicals we can consider ‘timeless’ because of the magical manner in which they impart wisdom to children while simultaneously imparting older audiences with a sense of youthful wonderment, Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella’ most certainly sits at the top of the list.

Based upon the French version of Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper, by Charles Perrault, the story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother and self-centered stepsisters, who dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into a princess and through the hopeful mists of magical fairy dust finds herself a  prince to become her partner in destiny. 

While Cinderella is the only Rodgers & Hammerstein musical written for television and originally broadcast live in color on CBS as a vehicle for actress Julie Andrews, who played the title role, the broadcast was viewed by more than 100 million people and subsequently was remade for television twice - once in 1965, and later in 1997 with a ground-breaking version that featured Brandy Norwood in the title role and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother. 

But now Pit & Balcony community theatre will be presenting the regional premier of a new Broadway adaptation of this classic musical, with a fresh up-to-date, hilarious, and romantic libretto written by Tony-Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane in a series of performances that will run from November 10-12 & 17-19^th.  Moreover, this ambitious production will be directed by none other than Pit’s managing director Amy Spadafore, who offers keen insight into the many qualities that compelled her to take the helm at shaping this updated classic for audiences populating the Great Lakes Bay Region. 

“I’ve never directed a musical before,” explains Amy, “but anyone in my generation or maybe a little older or younger remembers the ABC television version with Whitney Houston back in the late 1990s, and that was my first experience I had with this musical.  Because I’m a sucker for nostalgia, which is one of my favorite emotions, the music in Cinderella brings me back to watching that version on TV with my family and dancing around, singing all the songs to myself. I was so young at the time it didn’t occur to me how revolutionary this version was, casting Whitney as the Fairy Godmother and having Whoopi Goldberg married to Jason Alexander with what was essentially a multi-racial cast.”

“There was no acknowledgement of this simply because of the way these people played these roles so well,” she continues. “And then when you look at today, especially within the Theatre community, which is trying to break down barriers of race ethnicity and barriers to entry, I figured if they could do this 25-years ago we can also do it here. Seeing as this is the first musical I am directing, fortunately I have Spencer Beyerlein as my stage manager keeping me in line and being a great assistant.” 

With a cast that consists of Hope Brown as Ella (Cinderella), Matthew Howe as Topher (the Prince), Yavaha Oblesby as Madame (Stepmother), Conner Wieland as Sebastian, Indigo Dudley as Marie, Emily Sweeney as Gabrielle (Stepsister), Hillary Huebler as Charlotte (Stepsister), Ben Probst as Jean-Michel, Greg Allison as Lord Pinkleton, and Melanie Kratz, Michelle Mersy, Erin Palmer and Elizabeth Reinhardt in ensemble roles, Amy also notes that this particular version Pit & Balcony is premiering is not the same as the ABC version, but one that was adapted in 2013 for the Broadway stage. 

“There’s a couple new story lines and twists in this version that modernize the story a lot,” reflects Amy.“As a director I’m pulling from that place nostalgia brought me to the ABC version and the way they represented the characters, but also this new version that introduces a new character, Jean Michel, into the story who’s wanting to start a revolution in the kingdom among the peasant class.  From the beginning of the play to end he is trying to get the Prince’s attention that the working class is having their land taken away from them and being marginalized by the ruling class, but the Prince doesn’t know this is happening because he has this advisor basically writing all these laws intending to keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. Does that some familiar?,” she chuckles. 

While she is reluctant to give too much away about this modernized version, Amy notes another appealing element.  “In this version of the script Cinderella has the opportunity to take control of her own destiny. As opposed to Cinderella losing her shoe, the Prince finding it, and both of them falling in love, there’s a subtle twist in this classic part of the story, which I appreciate because we want it to be a fairy tale, but the twist is that it’s her decision whether to go with the Prince or not, which is subtle. It doesn’t slap you in the face with political or social commentary, but I think the script does a great job at modernizing the story in these ways. Plus, all the songs are the same Rodgers & Hammerstein classics.”

In terms of challenges involved with staging this production, Amy points to the fact that the original Broadway version is written for a 23-piece orchestra and the touring version is written for a 13-piece orchestra. “And then there’s Pit & Balcony which doesn’t have room for a 13-piece orchestra to fit onstage, so our Musical Director Todd Thomas has been working valiantly the past year to cut it down to 10 musicians, which is proving to be quite an adventure.  If we actually had an orchestra pit at Pit & Balcony, we could have larger orchestras.” 

In line with their entire season, the orchestra isn’t the only thing that’s big about this production of Cinderella, as the costuming also poses sizable challenges. “I’ve given my costume designer Cathy Arnett a lot of freedom because one of the things I would like to do is lean into the realism of this production, since the story line is modernized and relatable to current times.  You won’t see a lot of long swirling gowns, but something more modernized and very colorful. I gave the design team a lot of latitude and am hoping for unique costumes for Cinderella, so we can also tie into the fairy tale aspect.”

The lighting designer Dale Peters, props designers Darby & Jerry Gwisdala, and puppet designer Katie MacLean-Peters also have their work cut out for them. “While there are a lot of set changes in Cinderella, we’ll manage a lot of that with lighting and have a unit set outside the castle or in the town square, with trees that will roll on and off stage. Ken Duby has built all our sets and we are working right now on the pumpkin carriage, which will hopefully have horse’s legs that move as they are being pushed across the stage.”

“Thematically I want to lean into the realism but still want this production to feel like a fairy tale, which is why the animals will be played by hand puppets and the actors will kind of become the animals,” concludes Amy. 

“I really want people to appreciate the theatrical spectacle of this production because I’m a technician by trade, more so than a director. I always appreciate the tech side of the theatre when I go to see a show and want people to walk away feeling this saw a refreshed version of Cinderella, but also talking about the lights and the tech side of the production. We just did a massive upgrade to our lighting system, so this premier presents a good opportunity to show off what we’ve done here, so hopefully people appreciate all the good work that goes on backstage that helps augment the good work of the actors on the stage.”

The regional premier of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will run from November 10-12 & 17-19^th at Pit & Balcony Community Theatre, 805 N. Hamilton St. in Saginaw. Friday & Saturday performances are at 7:30 PM with Sunday matinees at 3:00 PM. Tickets are only $20 and can be purchased by phoning 989-754-6587 for visiting PitandBalconyTheatre.com