Cinderella
If you are looking for a way to celebrate the Christmas season, or introduce the kids to musical comedy, or find an entertainment where the kids will sit quietly entranced by an enchanting story, then Cinderella as performed At the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities is for you. This is a shortened version (often only one verse of each song is sung) of the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit which first played on television in the 1950s and was revived two more times for television. In fact Cinderella is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein show to be written exclusively for television. It proved so popular that it was later rewritten for the stage.
You can’t beat the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein. In Cinderella you have several hits, “Ten Minutes Ago” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful to name two. The orchestra, lead by the talented Dennis Castellano, lives up to its moniker, “the best orchestra in Los Angeles.” At 90 minutes, with a lengthy intermission of around 40 minutes to give the kids and parents time in the restrooms and time to stock up on glass slippers and candy bars, the show is parent and kid friendly.
There was more going on than just candy bars and music. The lead performer Nicole Werner is a natural for Broadway one day. Douglas Carpenter makes a handsome prince with an amazing voice to match his looks. Tracy Lore and Dink O’Neal are suitably silly as the King and Queen. Heather Lee as the stepmother, and Anna V. Ramsey and Jessica Ginsin-Mosely as the stepsisters, almost steal the show.
The hugely talented Dan Mojica directs the show. His choreography in the ballroom scene is very beautiful. In Cinderella, producer James A. Blackman, III has found a wonderful alternative for Christmas that not only is happy, but tuneful, pretty to look at, and thoroughly entertains the kids.