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Cinderella preview

Raleigh Little Theatre’s 22nd annual gala production of Cinderella, presented Dec. 9-13 and 15-18 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, has become a Triangle holiday tradition, second only to Theatre in the Park’s musical version of A Christmas Carol in longevity.

“Cinderella is a great family fun experience,” says RLT managing director Cate Foltin, “wonderful for children and for those young at heart, regardless of age. It is performed without an intermission, it has audience interaction, and the cast comes out for autographs at the end of the show. Cinderella is performed downtown (not at Raleigh Little Theatre) at … A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater …. Due to downtown construction of the new convention center and the opening of Fayetteville Street Mall, patrons may want to allow for extra time to get to the theatre and to find parking.”

RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons says, “This year’s Cinderella is Suzanna Dupree, who played the role last year. She’s a very talented young lady, and she’s been involved in Cinderella all her life. Her grandmother first brought her to see Cinderella when she was old enough to sit in a seat. She started out as a Mouse, then I think she was a Page, and now she’s Cinderella.”

In addition to Suzanna Dupree, RLT’s all-star cast for Cinderella includes Julia Ann Rogers as the Fairy Godmother; Sandi Sullivan as the wicked Stepmother; Timothy Cherry and Dennis Poole, in glorious drag, as Cinderella’s ungainly and hideously ugly stepsisters Henrietta and Gertrude; Florian Willem Maria Kreuk as the handsome and dashing Prince Charming; and Michael Lester as the aging and hopelessly nearsighted—but still amorous—King Darling III.

“With only four weeks to rehearse and the holiday season upon us,” says Cate Foltin, “scheduling enough rehearsal time for basically a new cast to learn the show presents challenges. It has been a few years since we have seen this many new faces involved with Cinderella. It is a terribly short rehearsal period (four weeks from first rehearsal to opening), [and] having almost an entirely new cast that doesn’t know at least some of the music and choreography is challenging.”

Based on the now-familiar fairy tale by French writer and poet Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who penned his 1697 collection, Contes de ma mère l’oye (Tales of Mother Goose), in a simple, unaffected style to entertain his children, this hilarious musical version of Cinderella features a book and lyrics by Jim Eiler and music by Eiler and Jeanne Bargy, who originally adapted the beloved story for The Prince Street Players, which specialized in children’s musicals that charmed and amused children of all ages.

In describing this screamingly funny fractured fairy tale, a Christian Science Monitor critic once wrote, “In a way it is all too good for children which of course is the only thing good enough for them.”

In addition to director and choreographer Haskell Fitz-Simons, the RLT production team includes assistant choreographer Missy Dapper, style coach Jo Brown, musical director Megan Crosson, technical director and co-set designer Roger Bridges, co-set designer and lighting designer Rick Young, costume designers Vicki Olson and John Franklin, wigs and hair stylist Kat Henwood, props mistress Betsy Bates, and stage manager Keith Bugner.

Cate Foltin notes, “Rick Young is designing a new light plot for the show this year—the first new lighting design in more than five years.”

How does Haskell Fitz-Simons gin up enthusiasm to for staging Cinderella for the 22nd time? “I sort of grew up doing long-running outdoor shows, both The Lost Colony and Unto These Hills,” says Haskell Fitz-Simons with a chuckle. “It was always exciting going back for next year’s production. First of all, you have to love the show or you wouldn’t do it.… It’s a combination of stamina and tradition.

“We all enjoy tradition—and the joy of seeing the show go up again,” he adds. “For the past several years, the young woman who played Cinderella wasn’t born the first couple of years that we did the show.”

Has Fitz-Simons ever thought about turning Cinderella over to another director? “Yes and no,” says RLT’s long-time artistic director. “Every now and again you think, Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to do this at the busiest time of the year? … The only person that I could almost see doing it is [Raleigh actress/director] Jo Brown, who has retired from the show after 21 years. She’s been the Fairy Godmother and Stepmama.… She knows everything about the show; she’s a walking archive of the show. If something happened to me, they would be idiots if they didn’t pull her in. She’s given so much to the show over the years.”

Fitz-Simons adds, “Because Jo Brown has left the cast, we have a completely new characterization of Fairy Godmother this year, with a stunning new actress named Julia Ann Rogers. It’s going to be very different, but quite lovely and quite compelling. We have a new King Darling III [Michael Lester], and he’s taking that role in some very interesting new directions. Some character actors speak their lyrics like Rex Harrison, but Michael Lester can actually sing the songs.

“The costume shop always works itself into oblivion,” Fitz-Simons explains, “because these are very elaborate costumes. They get a lot of wear and tear each season, and they have to be replaced. With a lot of new [actors and actresses] who are not the same size [as their predecessors], Vicky [Olson] has designed a virtual new look. Stepmama has sort of been reimagined as a dragon lady, so there are lots of scale elements on her costume, and serpentine sorts of things.”

Moreover, Fitz-Simons says, “One of the stepsisters might put one in mind of a very large bird who appears on one of our classic TV educational shows. The color scheme is similar, and there are feathers. So, there’s lots new things about this year’s production.”

He adds, “One of the interesting things that’s happened this year—and was bound to catch up to us—was we lost our musical director. The show is a pastiche. Finally, this year we’ve had to hire someone [Megan Crosson] who’s never seen the show before. So, this year we’re finally getting a complete score of the RLT version written down so someone can come in and have the whole score written down.

“Our Prince Charming [Florian Kreuk] is new and very young,” notes Haskell Fitz-Simons. “He’s a lovely match for our 18-year-old Cinderella. He’s either 16 or 17. I think our Prince Charming last year was in his mid-20s. [Florian Kreuk and Suzanna Dupree] make the most gorgeous storybook couple ever. You just want to cast them in sugar and eat them up. It’s a very romantic look, too.”

Editor’s Note: Portions of this article have been updated from last year’s preview.

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Cinderella Friday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 10-11, at 1 and 5 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, Dec. 15-16, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 17-18, at 1 and 5 p.m. in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the BTI Center for the Performing Arts, 1 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15-$25. 919/821-3111 or click here. Note 1: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and there will be assistive listening devices at all performances. Note 2: There will be audio description and American Sign Language interpretation at the 5 p.m. Dec. 11th performance. Raleigh Little Theatre: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/cind.htm.

WHAT: The Triangle Theater Review is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Scott Ross, Alan R. Hall, and others. (For brief bios of our contributors, see http://www.cvnc.org/about/critics-bios.html.) John Lambert and Classical Voice of North Carolina reprint our reviews, theater calendar, and theater and film links online at http://www.cvnc.org/. The Triangle Theater Review's reviews are now listed under “Performance Reviews” on the CVNC home page. (Just click on the show title for the preview, which will be followed on the web page by the review.) For a comprehensive list of Triangle “Theatre Openings,” see http://www.cvnc.org/calendar/openings.html. For our extensive list of “Theater and Film Links,” go to http://www.cvnc.org/links/theatre.html. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com.

DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that the Triangle Theater Review provides, please use your credit card to donate online via PayPal: http://www.cvnc.org/support/index.html; or mail a generous check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the Triangle Theater Review.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line. To have your name removed from our mailing list, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2005 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year, at http://cvnc.org/reviews/archives.html. To request copies of web articles from 2004 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net.


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Cinderella preview

Raleigh Little Theatre’s 22nd annual gala production of Cinderella, presented Dec. 9-13 and 15-18 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, has become a Triangle holiday tradition, second only to Theatre in the Park’s musical version of A Christmas Carol in longevity.

“Cinderella is a great family fun experience,” says RLT managing director Cate Foltin, “wonderful for children and for those young at heart, regardless of age. It is performed without an intermission, it has audience interaction, and the cast comes out for autographs at the end of the show. Cinderella is performed downtown (not at Raleigh Little Theatre) at … A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater …. Due to downtown construction of the new convention center and the opening of Fayetteville Street Mall, patrons may want to allow for extra time to get to the theatre and to find parking.”

RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons says, “This year’s Cinderella is Suzanna Dupree, who played the role last year. She’s a very talented young lady, and she’s been involved in Cinderella all her life. Her grandmother first brought her to see Cinderella when she was old enough to sit in a seat. She started out as a Mouse, then I think she was a Page, and now she’s Cinderella.”

In addition to Suzanna Dupree, RLT’s all-star cast for Cinderella includes Julia Ann Rogers as the Fairy Godmother; Sandi Sullivan as the wicked Stepmother; Timothy Cherry and Dennis Poole, in glorious drag, as Cinderella’s ungainly and hideously ugly stepsisters Henrietta and Gertrude; Florian Willem Maria Kreuk as the handsome and dashing Prince Charming; and Michael Lester as the aging and hopelessly nearsighted—but still amorous—King Darling III.

“With only four weeks to rehearse and the holiday season upon us,” says Cate Foltin, “scheduling enough rehearsal time for basically a new cast to learn the show presents challenges. It has been a few years since we have seen this many new faces involved with Cinderella. It is a terribly short rehearsal period (four weeks from first rehearsal to opening), [and] having almost an entirely new cast that doesn’t know at least some of the music and choreography is challenging.”

Based on the now-familiar fairy tale by French writer and poet Charles Perrault (1628-1703), who penned his 1697 collection, Contes de ma mère l’oye (Tales of Mother Goose), in a simple, unaffected style to entertain his children, this hilarious musical version of Cinderella features a book and lyrics by Jim Eiler and music by Eiler and Jeanne Bargy, who originally adapted the beloved story for The Prince Street Players, which specialized in children’s musicals that charmed and amused children of all ages.

In describing this screamingly funny fractured fairy tale, a Christian Science Monitor critic once wrote, “In a way it is all too good for children which of course is the only thing good enough for them.”

In addition to director and choreographer Haskell Fitz-Simons, the RLT production team includes assistant choreographer Missy Dapper, style coach Jo Brown, musical director Megan Crosson, technical director and co-set designer Roger Bridges, co-set designer and lighting designer Rick Young, costume designers Vicki Olson and John Franklin, wigs and hair stylist Kat Henwood, props mistress Betsy Bates, and stage manager Keith Bugner.

Cate Foltin notes, “Rick Young is designing a new light plot for the show this year—the first new lighting design in more than five years.”

How does Haskell Fitz-Simons gin up enthusiasm to for staging Cinderella for the 22nd time? “I sort of grew up doing long-running outdoor shows, both The Lost Colony and Unto These Hills,” says Haskell Fitz-Simons with a chuckle. “It was always exciting going back for next year’s production. First of all, you have to love the show or you wouldn’t do it.… It’s a combination of stamina and tradition.

“We all enjoy tradition—and the joy of seeing the show go up again,” he adds. “For the past several years, the young woman who played Cinderella wasn’t born the first couple of years that we did the show.”

Has Fitz-Simons ever thought about turning Cinderella over to another director? “Yes and no,” says RLT’s long-time artistic director. “Every now and again you think, Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to do this at the busiest time of the year? … The only person that I could almost see doing it is [Raleigh actress/director] Jo Brown, who has retired from the show after 21 years. She’s been the Fairy Godmother and Stepmama.… She knows everything about the show; she’s a walking archive of the show. If something happened to me, they would be idiots if they didn’t pull her in. She’s given so much to the show over the years.”

Fitz-Simons adds, “Because Jo Brown has left the cast, we have a completely new characterization of Fairy Godmother this year, with a stunning new actress named Julia Ann Rogers. It’s going to be very different, but quite lovely and quite compelling. We have a new King Darling III [Michael Lester], and he’s taking that role in some very interesting new directions. Some character actors speak their lyrics like Rex Harrison, but Michael Lester can actually sing the songs.

“The costume shop always works itself into oblivion,” Fitz-Simons explains, “because these are very elaborate costumes. They get a lot of wear and tear each season, and they have to be replaced. With a lot of new [actors and actresses] who are not the same size [as their predecessors], Vicky [Olson] has designed a virtual new look. Stepmama has sort of been reimagined as a dragon lady, so there are lots of scale elements on her costume, and serpentine sorts of things.”

Moreover, Fitz-Simons says, “One of the stepsisters might put one in mind of a very large bird who appears on one of our classic TV educational shows. The color scheme is similar, and there are feathers. So, there’s lots new things about this year’s production.”

He adds, “One of the interesting things that’s happened this year—and was bound to catch up to us—was we lost our musical director. The show is a pastiche. Finally, this year we’ve had to hire someone [Megan Crosson] who’s never seen the show before. So, this year we’re finally getting a complete score of the RLT version written down so someone can come in and have the whole score written down.

“Our Prince Charming [Florian Kreuk] is new and very young,” notes Haskell Fitz-Simons. “He’s a lovely match for our 18-year-old Cinderella. He’s either 16 or 17. I think our Prince Charming last year was in his mid-20s. [Florian Kreuk and Suzanna Dupree] make the most gorgeous storybook couple ever. You just want to cast them in sugar and eat them up. It’s a very romantic look, too.”

Editor’s Note: Portions of this article have been updated from last year’s preview.

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Cinderella Friday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 10-11, at 1 and 5 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, Dec. 15-16, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 17-18, at 1 and 5 p.m. in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the BTI Center for the Performing Arts, 1 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15-$25. 919/821-3111 or click here. Note 1: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and there will be assistive listening devices at all performances. Note 2: There will be audio description and American Sign Language interpretation at the 5 p.m. Dec. 11th performance. Raleigh Little Theatre: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/cind.htm.

WHAT: The Triangle Theater Review is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Scott Ross, Alan R. Hall, and others. (For brief bios of our contributors, see http://www.cvnc.org/about/critics-bios.html.) John Lambert and Classical Voice of North Carolina reprint our reviews, theater calendar, and theater and film links online at http://www.cvnc.org/. The Triangle Theater Review's reviews are now listed under “Performance Reviews” on the CVNC home page. (Just click on the show title for the preview, which will be followed on the web page by the review.) For a comprehensive list of Triangle “Theatre Openings,” see http://www.cvnc.org/calendar/openings.html. For our extensive list of “Theater and Film Links,” go to http://www.cvnc.org/links/theatre.html. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com.

DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that the Triangle Theater Review provides, please use your credit card to donate online via PayPal: http://www.cvnc.org/support/index.html; or mail a generous check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the Triangle Theater Review.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line. To have your name removed from our mailing list, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW in the Subject: line.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2005 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year, at http://cvnc.org/reviews/archives.html. To request copies of web articles from 2004 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net.

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