Topic: Cinderella

Mataya

Date: 2015-12-13 11:22 EST
Cast

Cinderella - Lirssa Sarengrave Buttons - Ben Gates The Wicked Stepmother - Yasmin Lucretia - Amos Maxwell Griselda - Rolando Tucker The Good Fairy - Eregor Prince Charming - Arandir Dandini - Felix Bailey The M.C - Hector Brady

Mataya

Date: 2015-12-13 11:23 EST
Synopsis

Act 1

Buttons welcomes the audience to the show, and introduces them to Cinderella. He tells of Cinderella's sad life, and how awful her Wicked Stepmother and stepsisters, Lucretia and Griselda, are to her, demonstrated when the Wicked Stepmother appears to give Cinderella a list of chores to do. Cinderella dreams of meeting a man who will love her, never realizing that her best friend, Buttons, is already in love with her. He almost manages to tell her, but is interrupted by the Ugly Stepsisters yelling for Cinderella, who quickly leaves on the pretext of gathering wood for the fire.

Lucretia and Griselda discuss their purchases in town, and introduce themselves to the audience. While this is going on, Dandini - Prince Charming's valet - arrives to invite all the ladies of the house to a ball the Prince is holding that night. Despite the Wicked Stepmother's best efforts, Buttons manages to get an invitation for Cinderella, as well.

Cut to the woods, where the Good Fairy appears to explain their purpose when it comes to the actual plot before promptly disappearing again. Cinderella is all alone in the woods, which keep changing every time she turns around, when she meets an old lady having difficulty gathering her own wood. Cinderella gives her some of her own kindling, and slips away before the old woman reveals that she is, in fact, the Good Fairy! Cinderella's kind act proves that she is a good person, and therefore the Good Fairy resolves to help her.

Elsewhere in the woods, Dandini is trying to buoy up Prince Charming's spirits with a little exercise, but the Prince is bored of life in general. Dandini suggests they switch clothes for the afternoon, so the Prince can find out what it's like being a commoner. While "in disguise", the Prince meets Cinderella, and they fall in love at first sight, their first kiss only interrupted when Buttons arrives to fetch Cinderella back to the house to help her stepsisters get ready for the ball.

Back at the house, Lucretia and Griselda are in their underwear, preparing themselves to dazzle the Prince. Cinderella enters in her best dress, and endures their spite, until Buttons arrives to tell them that the carriage is ready. The Wicked Stepmother is not prepared to let Cinderella show them up at the ball, and tears Cinders' best dress so she can't go at all.

When Buttons gets back from taking the Wicked Stepmother and her daughters to the ball, he finds Cinderella upset and unhappy, and tries to cheer her up without much success. He even tries to tell her he loves her, but that doesn't exactly go to plan. Left alone, Cinderella is in tears, but the Good Fairy appears to tell her that she shall go to the ball. A bit of magic and a posh frock later, the only thing missing is a horse to go with the carriage. Buttons is talked into being a horse for the night and is transformed - just as well, really, since the carriage the Good Fairy created is too big to go through the door, and Cinderella will have to ride.

With a warning that the spell will only last until the last stroke of midnight, when her clothes will turn to rags, the Good Fairy sends Cinderella off to the ball.

Act 2

The M.C. welcomes the audience to the ball, introducing each person as they arrive, including the Wicked Stepmother, Lucretia, and Griselda; an elderly man with a stick; the Swiss Family Robinson; and the Duke and Duchess of Rhy'Din. Lucretia and Griselda do their best to entice the Prince without much success, but the Wicked Stepmother seems to think they're doing very well indeed. Until Cinderella arrives, and the Prince only has eyes for her. They dance together, and share a kiss, but the clock strikes for midnight, and Cinderella must flee, leaving behind her only a single glass slipper.

Back at the house, presumably while still drunk from the ball, Lucretia and Griselda decide their home needs to be redecorated, resulting in a very messy little fight that might well spatter the front row!

Next morning, Buttons is back, feeling very strange having been a horse the night before. The Ugly Stepsisters are dreadfully hungover, but what is really bothering the Wicked Stepmother is the identity of the mysterious beauty the Prince kissed at the Ball last night. She confronts Cinderella, who is incapable of telling a decent lie, and discovers it was her. As Dandini and the Prince arrive, seeking the woman whose foot will fit the slipper left behind at the ball, the Wicked Stepmother imprisons Cinderella in a cupboard.

Lucretia and Griselda do everything they can to insist that the shoe fits them, but nothing works. The Prince and Dandini can hear Cinderella calling for help, and despite the Wicked Stepmother's attempts to distract them, Buttons rescues Cinderella. The Wicked Stepmother smashes the slipper in spite, but Cinderella has the other one. She tries it on, and it fits! And even Lucretia and Griselda have had enough of their mother by now - as the Wicked Stepmother tries to prevent a marriage between the Prince and Cinderella, they push her into the cupboard.

The Good Fairy appears to congratulate Cinderella on her rise in station, and the cast celebrates with a song.

((And now I know why I usually rip synopses from Wiki! That was harder than it looked! The link to the Youtube playlist that shows the panto this one is based firmly on can be found here. The audience is welcome to participate, but try not to trash my theater. :grin: Have fun with it, folks!))

Lirssa Sarengrave

Date: 2015-12-19 19:14 EST
The pantomime - panto - energized Lirssa every performance. She loved breaking the fourth wall down, interacting with the audience. It was so like the days of her youth at the tourneys and fairs. No matter how exhausted she was, dressing up and anticipating what new quirk of the evening would make that special once-in-a-lifetime moment thrilled her.

It was particularly fun to encourage the audience to boo and hiss at the wicked Stepmother. She knew Yasmin could handle whatever came, so Lirssa made sure to cue the audience and really get them to give their best shots of heckling when the Stepmother took the stage. One particular boy stood up and shook his fist at Stepmother, "You stay away from Cinderella!"

Hearing the children of the audience giggle and laugh, pointing and yelling "Behind you!" was worth every minute of rehearsal. Even when something did not go right, it all went merrily into the program, adding more laughs and bright joy.

At the end of each performance, she went out among the audience to meet with the children and talk with them about the play. She loved to see their excitement, and how they would tell her the story again as if she had not been there at all.

Yasmin

Date: 2015-12-29 05:47 EST
Buttons continued giving his little introduction to set the scene. One part caught Yas's attention as she prepped backstage.

"I work for the evil Baroness." The audience began to boo as he continued, "That's who I work for. She's evil. Let me tell you how evil she is, first of all, just to give you an idea. For a starter, she kills wild animals with her bare hands." The audience gasped. "You'll know when the evil baroness comes up cuz you'll hear this music..." There was a loud booming drum that played, dun dun duh. "And then it's your job. It's all down to you, boys and girls, girls and boys. This is what you have to do. You have to some booing and some hissing. Now, booing is easy isn't it' One, two, three, boo." The audience eagerly booed. "But hissing is a bit trickier, so I want to practice a bit hissing." The audience started to hiss. "Just wait. Wait....You're wasting your own time..." The audience laughed. Yasmin smiled too, trying to get it out while she could. She was still so excited to be playing the "bad guy' baroness.

Buttons continued, "I think its a good idea to start a show like this with one big long hiss, and then you don't need another big long hiss until the interval, right' So now, on three, I want you to give me the biggest long hiss you possibly can. One, two, three." The audience hissed long and loud. "Oh! Like frying bacon. Fantastic. That's very good. Now you're all covered in spit but it doesn't matter, does it?" The audience laughed, and so did Yas. "Ok. Now then, the Baronness has got two daughters and they are ugly. Oh, they are ugly. Honestly, they're awful. They're so ugly, they laid down in the garden last week and the cat tried to bury them..."

Buttons went on to describe the sisters and the rest of the introductory things about the Cinderella fairy tale. Cinderella soon came out, much to Button's excitement. He was eager to tell her how much he was in love with her. He finally got his moment.

"I wanted to tell you that I watched you grow up very slowly..." Buttons began, but then quickly looked down to her chest and added, "Well, not all that slowly."

"Why, thank you," Cinderella said sweetly.

"And I wanted to tell you that I really, really, really..." Buttons was then interrupted by the sound of a loud dun dun duh.

Yasmin walked out triumphantly as the wicked stepmother in all her glory. The audience quickly launched into their boos and hisses. "Get out, Buttocks," she barked.

"It's uh....It's Buttons" he said sheepishly.

"I'll be the judge of that," she snapped as he ran off stage. She turned to Cinderella, who had begun to innocently go back to her chores. "Look at her, how vilely she sweeps. I hate her." She tried to bite her lip, knowing Lirssa was behind her, encouraging the audience to boo and hiss. She wanted to smile, grateful that her fellow actress was doing such an incredible job working with the audience. Once she received the audience's boos and hisses in response, she bit back, "Yes, well now you're all covered in spit, aren't you?" The audience laughed. She wanted to laugh with them, but she wouldn't dare break.

"Oh, I grant you she's pretty, but everybody can be pretty. I was pretty once....briefly....from the back." The audience laughed. "And I suppose she's popular and she can hold a tune, and she thinks she can converse with birds. It's ridiculous." She turned to find Cinderella cooing to one of her birds. Turning back, she asked, "Should I tell you why I hate her?" The audience gave their permission, and the evil Baroness continued, "I hate her because she is the spitting image of my late husband's first wife whom he loved more than he loved me. Its complicated, but it all hangs together psychologically." The audience laughed.

Cinderella said with a perky smile, "How are you this morning, stepmother?"

"I'm not telling you? the evil stepmother hissed tersely. Storming off towards the door, she looked back and ordered, "And when you're finished sweeping, I want you to go and cut the lawn....with your teeth!" The audience gasped in dismay. "And after that, you can go and scrap the bird droppings off the cat!? She let out an evil cackle as she walked off stage. The sounds of the audience's boos and hisses covered the sound of Yas laughing behind the curtain. She was loving every second of this. Lirssa was doing such a great job with the lead and, honestly, Yas was having way too much fun as the support. Maybe she could play the bad guy more often.

Josette Wheeler

Date: 2016-01-11 05:54 EST
(Takes place on Dec. 26th)

The day after Christmas, Josette was thrilled to return to the Shanachie as a member of the audience once again for their production of Cinderella. She was all too eager to be transported to another world for a few hours and enjoy the unique tale the talented cast spun for the audience.

She'd flown away to Neverland in Peter Pan on her last trip to the theater and was completely enchanted by the performance. Josette found her own unique way to fly once upon a time and it was all too true how significant a role happy thoughts played in influencing and sustaining the magic and breadth of one's flight.

The petite ballerina delighted in the fourth wall being broken down when Yasmin encouraged the audience to clap for Tinkerbell and Josette was one of the loudest to cheer for Tink, for she did indeed believe in fairies whole heartedly!

In the Cinderella pantomime, the fourth wall was broken down to an even bigger extent and the it was nearly impossible not to get caught up in the excitement, humor and energy that washed over the audience in waves.

In certain situations, crowds could overwhelm the tiny dancer. The instrument of her body was like a finely tuned and strung Stradivarius that was sensitive to certain vibrations. But tonight, there was so much sheer joy in the theater, she found the energy a delight to soak in as the audience cheered on the lovely Lirssa as Cinderella and good-naturedly booed and hissed at Yasmin's larger than life Wicked Stepmother. It was clear Yasmin was relishing playing the villain to the hilt and the audience simply ate it up along with her!

It seemed the actors were having as much fun as the audience members and the children in particular were completely enthralled that they were able to participate in the action. Josette couldn't help giggling at the unique outbursts that came from the mouths of babes to the cast, intensely invested in each of the characters with wide eyes and even wider smiles.

Josette lingered a bit after the performance to wait to congratulate each member of the cast on an amazing show. She was mindful not to intrude upon the moment when the children all rushed to Lirssa when she came out, each eager to share their favorite moments of the show with her and have their own special moment with the heroine they cheered for so eagerly from their seats.

She could not help but admire the ease and rapport Lirssa had with the children. They naturally gravitated to her and it was not difficult to see why. More of an auditory Empath, Josette heard it first in the music of Lirssa's voice when she heard her sing as Eponine in Les Mis?rables and then again on the evening of Samhain. Lirssa had been so kind to her when she became a bit tipsy from the potency of the fae wine and was a little overwhelmed by all of the energy whirling about on a night when the veil between worlds was so thin.

It was that unique blend of kindness, compassion and courage that she heard in Lirssa's voice, a quality that made her the ideal choice to play Eponine and Cinderella.

When the last child had waved eagerly over their shoulder to depart, Josette congratulated Lirssa on another fantastic show, not to mention her wonderful singing at the Yule Ball and thanked her again for her kindness on the night of Samhain. Josette never forgot a kindness.

Then with her program tucked under her arm, she made her way for home well before the Midnight, though the magic and joy of the evening was not likely to wear off anytime soon.