Kaleidoscope Theatre

By Natalie deMacedo
ndemacedo@capecodonline.com

 

HYANNIS – Instead of the typical docile and naive princesses of yesteryear, Cinderella took the Melody Tent stage on Wednesday as a poor girl in a terrible situation with very real and relatable emotions.
 

Even if she does what her stepmother asks, Cinderella (Julia Bartoletti) isn’t unaware that what her stepmother is doing is unjust. Cinderella doesn’t throw juvenile fits, but she painfully cries when her stepsisters rip up her mother’s dress and gets appropriately offended when they insult her. She even rolls her eyes once or twice (how un-royal!).
 

That’s why the moment when she locks eyes with the Prince Charming (Diego Guevara) at the ball isn’t nearly as cheesy as it should be. In fact, it’s nothing short of magical. Cinderella comes across as a real person, so how couldn’t true love be real too? Yet perhaps I’m biased. I met my future husband while swing-dancing, so I understand Cinderella’s movie-moment of dancing with a stranger and wondering if he’s “the one.” Well, minus the “I’m a scullery maid and he’s a prince” part.
 

As fate should have it, Cinderella’s and Prince Charming’s gold and lavender royal garb matches and they both know the words to the same song from their dreams. They harmonize and waltz across the stage as little girls wistfully wish for a prince like Guevara someday. (Seriously, “Princess Guevara” is a perfect royal name).
 

Mac Ash and his older sister, Ellie, who performed as dwarfs in “Snow White” last week, came back as the adorable mice in “Cinderella.” My only complaint was not getting to see as much of their acrobatic talent as they showed off in the first show. To make up for the missing clever and sweet dwarf antics was the comedic interplay between the King (Glenn Zienowicz) and his right-hand man (Taylor Santoro). Their song-and-dance routine about the glass slipper is nothing but silly, yet their voices powerfully fill the tent and certainly entertain.

Stepsisters Disgustia and Putricia (Briana Casale and Chandler Woods) are atrociously perfect with their moles, unibrows, crooked witch noses and unruly hair. No one is getting them mixed up with the naturally beautiful Cinderella. Their obnoxious behavior and not-so-clever jokes are sickening – just the way they should be.
 

David Payton wrote the dialogue and music for the production as well as directed it. He threw in some humorous cultural references to Geico (“I saved 15 percent or more on my coach insurance.”) and the infamous Life Alert commercial (“Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” when the stepsisters faint seeing Cinderella in her mother’s wedding dress). Those mostly entertained the adults, which was a generous move on Payton’s part.
 

Unfortunately, the first act of Wednesday’s show suffered from some microphone technical difficulties, likely due to the King and Stepmother’s (Laura Benjamin) wonderfully elaborate costumes. That being said, it’s amazing what can be done with a small wooden bed, two plyboard boxes, a chair, a table, a pumpkin, a broom and two bouquets of flowers. Those were the only props on set for the whole hour and half long play, but that was all Payton needed – the classic story and talented actors did the bulk of the storytelling.
 

In fact, with a story as magic-filled as “Cinderella,” Payton cleverly manages to account for the new gown and mice-turned-people that come from the Fairy Godmother (Marianne Douglas) without any fancy tricks. The pumpkin gets a “delayed spell,” so it won’t become a coach with white horses until it’s outside the tent, and the Fairy Godmother hands Cinderella a tiny doll dress. When Cinderella returns from her room, it’s a full-length ball gown complete with tiara – and “glass” slippers. The mice run in dressed as a carriage driver and lady-in-waiting (overwhelmingly cute) and the three set off to the ball.

 

And for the children, the magic is just as real as ever before.

 

(As reported here in the Cape Cod Times)