MAR
12

Children’s Theatre – Not Just Child’s Play!

Cinderella!  Cinderella! touches the hearts and funny bones of all ages 

By Debra Fendrich, Publisher, Pioneer Drama Service 

I had the pleasure of attending a performance of Edith Weiss’s Cinderella!  Cinderella!, presented by adults at a community theatre for children.  Among a sea of little girls in the audience wearing sparkling princess gowns and tiaras, I felt like a big galoot in my jeans and hoodie.  I didn’t intend to leave my publisher’s hat at the auditorium door, but I soon blended right in with the young crowd and their parents, giggling and even laughing out loud along with the children.  The humor woven into Edith’s skillfully-written manuscript leapt to life from the first moment when the town crier, Master Harold the Herald, competes with the decrepit old lady hawking cabbage balls.  I had a grin plastered on my face just about the entire show.

This hilarious 50-minute children’s play presents a twist as Cinderella, a plain looking girl with big feet, has to compete with her two mean-spirited but stunningly gorgeous stepsisters for the hand of the kind and sincere prince.  With the help of her faithful feline companion, Tom, and a lovable but vision-impaired Fairy Godmother who’s always using the wrong wand, Cinderella finally learns that magic isn’t the answer to her problems.  Courage, kindness, and self-confidence trump superficial beauty and an expensive wardrobe.  With a cast of eight, this flexible play can easily be performed by children, yet also is perfect as a delightful TYA show with a nice moral.  Loaded with physical humor, it’s also ideal for high schools to perform for their feeder elementary schools.

At a time when the news is swarming with political drama, economic woes, immigration crises, and more, this kind of quality children’s theatre is just the thing to encourage even big kids like me to forget the troubles of the world for an hour and just enjoy the purest form of lighthearted fun.  This skilled acting troupe filled the show with non-stop slapstick shenanigans — from Cinderella’s cat Tom’s tripping up the stuffy (and cat-allergic!)  ladies, to the stepsisters’ desperate and fake fainting spells, to the fairy godmother’s spells gone awry and the stepsisters’ much deserved pies in the face.  The prince wasn’t the only one who had a ball, that’s for sure!

More than just action-packed fun, the meaning of true friendship is sweetly and repeatedly revealed.  Tom Cat and Cinderella share loyalty and affection as adorably, Tom can’t help but cry whenever Cinderella does.  The fairy godmother practices tough love, refusing to use her magic when Cinderella must learn on her own.  And of course, the compassionate prince shares a sincere connection with the kind Cinderella, even if she doesn’t have the glamourous “princess” look.

Meanwhile, the role reversals in the play — gorgeous stepsisters and an ordinary Cinderella — highlight a new moral to the age-old story:  it’s not how you look or what your wear that matters; it’s the joy in your heart and how you treat others — and yourself — that are the keys to finding true friendship and love.  I guess my jeans and hoodie were okay after all!

By the end of the show, I didn’t feel like such a galoot anymore.  Having just smiled and laughed through an hour of entertainment, I was beaming and felt just as sparkly as the sequined gowns that surrounded me in the theatre.  I hope the little princesses caught a glimmering of those special truths so often heard in clichés and wonderfully revealed in Cinderella!  Cinderella!  “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  “All that glitters is not gold.”  “The clothes don’t make the (wo)man.”

Bravo to the talented Edith Weiss and the effervescent actors for bringing these messages to life in such a delightfully fun way!