As the cast takes their bows and the curtains fall, the standing ovation erupting from the audience marks the Woodside theater department’s latest success, with Cinderella “Enchanted Edition”.
The musical follows two main characters: Prince Christopher as his parents force him to find a bride, and the very poorly treated Cinderella. After Cinderella’s parents passed away, she was left with her stepmother and two stepsisters. They treat her like a maid, but when she hears that the prince is throwing a ball to find a wife, she is thrilled because she sees a way out of her life. However, her situation is made harder when her step-family gets jealous of her and forbids her from going to the dance. Meanwhile, the prince is frustrated as his mother and father force him to host a ball where he must dance with every girl of his age in the kingdom. The prince believes he should be allowed to find love naturally but his parents want him to find a wife quickly. His life magically changes when he meets a mysterious, unnamed girl at the ball.
Cinderella “Enchanted Edition” is an adapted version of the original, iconic animated Disney film Cinderella. It was originally made for television but was later adapted for the theater. The movie version of Cinderella “Enchanted Edition” was first produced in the 90s by Whitney Houston. This version of Cinderella promotes diversity and inclusion, which was a major reason for the WHS drama department to pick this musical.
The main thing that made this musical a success was singing. This is obviously an important part of any musical, but I was thoroughly blown away by the ability of this cast. Specifically, Anna Daveggio, who played the queen was amazing and every single scene they were in was marvelous. It was not hard to tell that the cast worked very hard on all the songs because every single person from the prince to the ensemble was extraordinary.
Another impressive aspect of this year’s musical was the ability to bring the audience into the musical. In particular, the costumes really captured the audience’s attention and brought the show to life. All the ensemble looked amazing—their costumes were similar enough to blend into the background of the scene and yet every single one was unique and very detailed, especially during the ball. The ensemble also did a very good job of bringing you into the ball with very well-choreographed waltzing. All the waltzing couples moved in sync and made the ball feel like how the royal ball should have felt.
Finally, the cast and crew did an excellent job of persisting in the face of challenges. On the opening night of the play there was a lot of trouble during the scene where Cinderella meets her fairy godmother and the godmother turns a pumpkin into a carriage. Halfway through the scene, a chunk of the set fell down and almost hit Cinderella. Luckily nobody was hurt. The curtain closed, but after making sure all was safe the show went on. Addressing the problem took an impressively short amount of time, and the cast was able to move on pretty quickly, even making a joke about it later on in the play. This just goes to show how talented and persistent this year’s cast is.
This play was an overall huge success and I’m sure it has only gotten better since opening night. I would recommend everyone in the Woodside community to watch this family-friendly musical sometime this weekend.
