Broadway is great. But for sheer fun, you cannot go wrong with Cinderella this weekend at Morristown High School.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hummable score…stellar vocals…a full orchestra…big dance numbers…funny bits…creative sets…giants…raccoons…foxes. And of course, glass slippers.
Saturday’s matinee starred Charlotte and Julia Cama as Cinderella and her fairy godmother, respectively. These girls can sing! They won Morristown Onstage with the trio Orion’s Belt in 2019, and Julia won two more prizes earlier this month with the school’s Spectrum Jazz Ensemble.
Cinderella adds another magical chapter to this sibling saga, with more magic to come–they are only juniors.
Sunday’s 2 pm performance will see senior Elisa Manning in the title role. She starred with her sister, Isabel, in the fall drama She Kills Monsters.
(Isabel is an ensemble member of Cinderella, as is Anna Grace Yurik–who sang in Orion’s Belt with the Camas.)
Valencia Julien (Cinderella’s nasty step-mom) and Margaret McDermott (‘Ella’s loopy step-sister Charlotte, with a Bozo hairdo that defies gravity) supply some funny moments.
Ryan Snyder is suitably unctuous as the prince’s advisor, Sebastian. William Quiceno Jr. (Prince Topher), Sam Scott (Lord Pinkleton), Kevin Clark (the rabble-rousing Jean-Michel) and Allie Miller (the nice step-sister, Gabrielle) turn in solid performances.
Special praise is owed to the crew, tasked with muscling multiple sets through four shows in three days.
Video: ‘Cinderella’ preview at Morristown Onstage:
The orchestra, conducted by David Gallagher, gives punch to the production. Directed by Stephanie Rubin, the show has many clever touches–including a cartoonish painting of Cinderella’s step-sisters, cute forest critters, and mice who transform into coachmen.
Most dazzling are the transformations of a little old lady (also played by Julia Cama) into a shimmery fairy godmother, and of Cinderella from a poor country lass into the belle of the ball. How they achieve these live costume changes, I’m not sure–despite viewing them with my own eyes.
Lots of kids attended Saturday’s matinee. It’s likely many of them went home inspired to give this theater thing a try.
