My Cinderella
The photos in this album are from the theatre's archive plus photos from volunteers. If you have photos that you'd like to add, please send them in a ZIP file to david@rltvolunteers.
List of Cinderellas and Dates:
1984: Lisa Gormon
1985: Tricia Abbott
1986: Tricia Abbott Vann
1987: Amy Evans
1988: Nancy Watkins Dimitrios
1989: T.J. Baker
1990: Tonya Jones
1991: Martie Todd Sirois
1992: T.J. Gee
1993: Martie Todd Sirois
1994: Martie Todd Sirois
1995: Martie Todd Sirois
1996: Angelisa Maria Loftin
1997: Marcia Sofley
1998: Kelly Carruth
1999: Kelly Carruth
2000: Mary Gray Hutchinson
2001: Cory Miller
2002: Rebecca Myers
2003: Rebecca Beyler
2004: Suzanna Dupree
2005: Suzanna Dupree
2006: Susanna Hailey
2007: Katherine Anderson
2008:
Notes from the Director:
When we speak of Cinderella, Americans most often bring to mind the animated film of Walt Disney. Most of us grew up with that musical confection as a frame of reference. Later on we discovered the lovely musical production written by those giants of the American musical stage, Rodgers and Hammerstein. Most Americans are unaware that our English cousins have a time-honored tradition of presenting Cinderella (as well as a number of other classic children’s stories) as Christmas pantomimes (or “pantos”). This tradition is still alive today in Great Britain, and for most English families the holidays are not complete without a family outing to see one of these hilarious productions, whether Cinderella or Aladdin or Dick Whittington or Snow White or … You get the picture. In the true English pantomime, the settings and costumes are as rich and fantastical as budget will allow. There are a number of other “panto” traditions as well. The hero is usually played by a lovely young woman dressed as a young man. The role is called “principal boy” and is classified as a “trouser role”. There is usually a comic “dame” - a gentleman dressed comically in women’s clothes. (Cinderella doesn’t really lend itself to the “principal boy” tradition, as the hero is a heroine). Also, there is usually a very bad comic villain, whom the audience roundly hisses and boos. (Villains we have in plenty; feel free to hiss.) There is usually a good deal of audience participation in the form of prompts from the stage and boisterous responses from the audience.
Raleigh Little Theatre discovered Jim Eiler and Elaine Bargy’s Cinderella twenty-five years ago. I had seen the script performed and thought it tremendous fun! Originally, when I spoke to Mr. Eiler about our need for a holiday production, he suggested we do his script for Pinocchio, which he thought, with a few lyric and scriptural changes would make a good Christmas play. It did. The next year, I asked him what he thought about Cinderella as a holiday show. We would need to add a chorus, because his script only had the principals. He said, “Why don’t you add a big sort of ‘street’ opening and a big choral finale?” So we did. We added the mice and the guests at the ball and the young prince and have been having fun with Cinderella now for twenty-five years. It may be seen as something of a challenge to keep a production fresh and new over the years. If the actors and production team treat the production with respect and a sense of discovery, the annual outing is always an adventure and gives a great deal of fun and satisfaction!
Haskell Fitz-Simons
Artistic Director, Raleigh Little Theatre
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