Cinderella by Denton Community Theatre

Originally published in John Garcia's The Column.

Denton Community Theatre’s CINDERELLA on April 18 was a quaint attempt at a much beloved fairy tale that fell just short of magical. Elements of an over the top, cartoonish musical were mixed with realistic approaches which resulted in a lack luster performance and an almost magical experience.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s musical CINDERELLA, originally written for television in 1957, is the story we are all familiar with: a young girl is overworked by her stepmother and two stepsisters, but does so without complaint. Then, the handsome prince gives a ball- with the help of his mother and the sympathy of his father- in hopes of finding himself a bride. Cinderella’s magical godmother grants her wish and sends her to the ball in a carriage created from a pumpkin, driven by four (formally mice) horses, and wearing the most beautiful dress. The Prince is instantly drawn to her. She knows she must leave by midnight, but she and the Prince are so engrossed in each other, she forgets until the clock starts to chime. She runs away, leaving her glass slipper behind. The Prince begins to search for the young lady who fits the shoe, and when he finds her, they get married. Rodgers and Hammerstein added quit a bit of tongue and cheek humor and created some beautiful, classic, fairy tale numbers to help the story along. Their version of CINDERELLA has something to offer audiences of all ages when done with the same finesse and gusto with which they wrote it.

A child’s fairy tale will have a lot of children in the audience, and it seems this production was created with them in mind. However, even the children seemed to long for something more. The cast was low on energy and more focused on looking and sounding like versions of their characters rather than being real people. This, along with less than stellar special effects and unimaginative staging by director Sharon Veselic left the entire audience bored. Bored children get rather wiggly and rambunctious, which distracted the rest of us from enjoying the performance as well.

Playing the title character was high school senior Hannah Lane. Her beautiful hair and dainty features made a very picturesque Cinderella, but her stiff movements and pinched face seemed to trap her within her own body. I wanted to see her do this performance without all the huge, over the head arm swoops and with relaxed shoulders. She moved like a ballerina in a music box which came across as robotic rather than the regal she was going for. Though clearly she is classically trained and was able to hit all of the notes in the music, her voice lacked natural talent and sounded artificial. Her voice is nice, pleasant, but there was something missing. Perhaps it was passion or true emotions, I am not sure, but I do know that I wanted her to sing with a natural sweetness that embodied Cinderella. All of the actors, with the help of dialect coach Hazel Murphy, had British accents, and it was probably a collective decision to give Cinderella an upper class tone. Hannah Lane did well with this accent, but lost it at times while singing. (One must question, though, if Cinderella would have an upper class or a lower class accent, since she is, after all, a servant.) Her speaking voice, though, was very melodious and soothing. She was gentle with it, though I sensed she probably has a great range and a lot of power. Hannah Lane has a lovely future ahead of her, but I wanted to see a real person and instead got a caricature of a princess.

Keith J. Warren was Prince Christopher. He looked like a prince- tall and strong with dark hair and warm smile. He made a lovely picture alongside Cinderella- the handsome prince and the beautiful princess. However, he only had two facial expressions, mouth turned down and eyebrows up in surprised looking sadness, and smiling with eyebrows up in surprised looking happiness. There was no variance between the two. Also, when he spoke it came across as wimpy and whiney and a little high. I wanted him to be more masculine, with a deep booming voice when he gave orders but tender and comforting when with Cinderella. He also hesitated before each kiss with Cinderella, perhaps because of her young age or perhaps because of a director’s instruction to keep it very G-rated, but whatever the reason, it did not feel like love’s true kiss. Along with Hannah Lane, I wanted to see the two of them smile at each other and relax physically, especially at the ball and in the finale. Instead, they looked so serious, almost like a melodrama.

The stepmother was well played by Connie Lane (Hannah Lane’s real life mother). In this version, the stepmother is more comedic than evil, and she did an excellent job of trying to give some laughs to the older crowd in the audience. She has an impressive vocal range, going deep into her chest and then into a falsetto voice. She also has a menacing stare that leaves no doubt who is in charge in that house. I would love to see her take the stepmother a little darker, a little more sinister, either cartoon- like or realistically. I think it would add a nice contrasting element to the storyline and the physical acting on the stage.

The two stepsisters, Joy and Portia were played by Paige Wells and Kris Walters, respectively. As intended, they were the over-the-top comedic relief of the performance. Wells is tall and thin with a whiney voice that alternates between nasal and chesty while Walters is, well, not so tall and not so thin but uses her body masterfully to create her character. I found myself drawn to them the most because they made a clear choice to go over-the-top and did not sit on the fence as many of their cast mates did. And, for them, it worked and added some much needed comedic relief throughout. At the end, during the song “A Lovely Night”, the two sisters along with the stepmother and Cinderella had a lovely harmony. This song, for me, stole the show in vocal quality and emotional interpretation. It felt the most real. Wells also worked as the choreographer. Her choreography was simplistic but very picturesque and worked nicely within the set and costume limitations.

Lana Hoover as the Fairy Godmother was quirky and delightful, like an energetic old lady with massive amounts of energy to burn. Her singing seemed forced, almost strained at times, but her grasp of the character’s purpose within the story and much needed comedic relief was spot on. Her wig, however, was not. It was a dark brown, curly pony tail attached to her bright red natural hair. I found it to be very distracting. The children in the audience liked her magic tricks and were very drawn to her. I wanted more, but also knew, by the time she arrived, she would have over powered the entire cast if she had done all I wanted.

Charles Beachley as the King and Sharon Barnhill as the Queen make a cute elderly couple, though some of their comedic bits fell a little flat. Barnhill was a little soft spoken and subdued when an over-the-top performance as the concerned, meddling mother would have helped the adults remain engaged in her performance and the storyline. However, her tenderness with the prince and very sweet demeanor allowed us to see something other than prim and proper royalty. I wanted to see more of Beachley’s good natured and jolly king, but other than his introduction in Act I (with an ongoing joke about his falling pants that fell just two too many times), he was sad or bored throughout the rest of the performance.

The herald and the minister were both portrayed by Christopher Adams. He has an impressive biography which lead me to expect an energetic and lively opening number, “The Prince is Giving a Ball.” Though he has a nice singing voice and physicalized his characters well, he never once smiled. He was either near tears or falling asleep. Perhaps a can of his favorite energy drink or caffeinated beverage was in order. I think an emotional charge will help him project his singing voice with more power, too, and that would help the opening number tremendously.

The ensemble was on stage for most of the show, and their energy was also low. When they were the background action to the main characters, they seemed to forget they were visible on stage and fell out of character. Musically they blended well together, though, and when they were singing and/or dancing, they each had unique characters that added to the overall story. Of special note was the tall man with the mustache (it is impossible to pick him out of the showbill without photos). He added a lot of ongoing physical comedy and even created a minor sub-story with the stepmother at the ball. He did his best to keep the background action interesting. Also, Cody Vann (ensemble who played the footman for the carriage ride) looked disinterested the entire performance. In contrast, the young grade school girls- Kendall Tubbs, Shelby DuPont, and Anna Sitzes were delighted to skip on and off stage and added a youthful joy to the production.

The staging was simplistic- a little too much so. The big numbers, such as “The Prince is Giving a Ball” and the finale “The Wedding” were underwhelming as the entire cast just stood singing. There was no fantastic lighting design, no solo dancers, and very little, if any choreography. During the ball, there was one solo dancer, a young girl, who did a lovely job but was very small and not very fancifully dressed, so I was confused as to who she was and why she was dancing alone at the ball. The full orchestra, conducted by Ray Staniszewski, sat upstage of all the action and partially hidden by the set at times, though they did peek out from time to time. Live music is always a wonderful addition to a musical, and this proved to be true here, too. The set, designed by Erin Ball, was like a child’s fantasy dream for the ball and the countryside while realistic inside Cinderella’s house. Despite this, the set worked for me. It was well constructed and functional, though very noisy for the multiple set changes all done by the ensemble. Tina Barrus’ costumes were the epitome of over-the-top fairy tale. Lots of bright colors, hoop skirts, and men in knickers created the world in a visually stunning way. The children and adults alike were constantly mesmerized by the parade of colors. There were far fewer special effects than one expects for Cinderella, and more would have added to the magical atmosphere. The Godmother magically starts a fire for Cinderella, a window refuses to stay shut, and small rosebuds bloom open with a little coaching. There were no special effects, only lighting, music and choreography, for the big transformation that sends Cinderella to the ball in a carriage, dress, and glass slippers. The carriage was exquisite and was pulled by four ensemble with stunning horse head masks. Cinderella’s costume change was less than impressive because we saw how it was done. (Magic tricks are always ruined when you see them in action. Some creative thinking or even seeking the help of a real magician would be a good idea for a trick such as that.)

The director’s note in the showbill invited the audience to “take a deep breath, sit back and transport yourselves to the enchanted land of Prince Charming’s castle and the timeless story of Cinderella.” The little girls in the audience, particularly those who came in costume, had a wonderful experience complete with getting their picture taken in a pumpkin carriage in the lobby. The rest of us, though, needed a little more spectacle, a little more magic, and whole lot more energy to make it worthy of attending. It was nice, pleasant, but I expect more out of the talent available in Denton- yes, even at the community theatre level.

Denton Community Theatre and the Fabulous 40 Present: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA through April 25th.

Performed at The Campus Theatre located at 214 W. Hickory St, Denton, TX 76201. 940-382-1915.