Cinderella: A Dysfunctional Family Fairy Tale (with Music)

Posted @ Feb. 18 2012 09:56AM by Susan - arts-ent

Review by Ed Phillips

Performed at the Columbia Center for the Performing Arts, February 16, 2012

A sure fire crowd pleaser opened at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts last night. The theater is presenting an energetic, musical version of the classic fairy tale “Cinderella." The book and the music are by Rogers and Hammerstein. It was originally written and produced as a TV production in 1957, then revised and presented again in 1965. The later version enjoyed a long life on TV as an annual production. This stage version is adopted from the 1965 TV production and fits nicely into the Columbia Theatre stage.

It is not one of Rogers and Hammerstein’s great works. "South Pacific” or "Oklahoma” it ain’t. That said, it is two hours of enjoyable musical theater. The songs are tuneful and well sung by a cast of uniformly good voices. The musical accompaniment and singing were aided by very good microphones and excellent acoustics. The audience was very appreciative and applauded vigorously at all the right moments.

Everybody knows the story, so I won’t repeat it. Prince Christopher gets Cinderella, a very well-choreographed musical wedding scene ends the play and the theatergoers live happily ever-after. Along the way we get to enjoy some very good musical comedy performances by the evil step sisters played by Kate Jansen and Laura Ouellette Tack. They got the maximum mileage out of their comic roles and were audience favorites. Their mother, played by Lorraine Little, is no walk in the park either, and some physical supplementation adds to her comic persona. Young kids (they looked to range from 4 to teenage) played dancing mice. The all deserved a big round of cheese. Well done!

The sets and costumes fit well into some time period between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance. In fact, the backdrops are the original 1925 canvas backdrops of the Columbia Theatre. Does anyone actually know when the story takes place? It’s obviously in the Middle Ages where fairy godmothers can still aid the good and frustrate evil. In this play the fairy god mother is quite effective, acting as a stage manager and brings the audience into the play.

If you go:
Cinderella runs Feb. 17-19; 7pm; Feb.18-19 2pm. Tickets: $15 -25
Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts
1231 Vandercook, Longview WA
www.columbiatheatre.com
360-575-8499