Cinderella

I saw Texas State University’s Production of Cinderella on Wednesday, April 22nd. The show was directed by Aaron Brown, choreographed by Julio Cantano-Yee, and music directed by Spencer D. Hansen. The show was incredible! The most notable thing was the cleave costume changes and the moving set pieces. 

The show starts out with a girl named Ella. She lives with her evil step mom and her two sisters. Her Step-Mother wants nothing more than one of her sisters to marry the prince. She bans Ella from going to the ball but while she is away, Ella’s Fairy Godmother comes to the rescue and sends her to the ball. The prince and Ella danced together until Ella had to unexpectedly leave. The prince hosts a banquet to try and find her. Ella makes her way to the banquet and the prince and her fall in love again and live happily ever after. 

The acting in the show was spectacular. The only thing I noticed was there was a scene with Ella and the Step-Mother that seemed rushed a little but other than that slight nit-picky aspect, the acting was great! I loved how over the top all the characters were since it was a Rogers and Hammerstein musical! The ensemble was also very engaging and set the whole foundation of the story. It made the lead characters pop out more and gave structure to the entire musical. 

The design was beautiful. I loved how simple yet specific it was. The costumes were even better! I loved the idea of Ella wearing a bonnet to hide her tiara and then her maid outfit folds out into a beautiful formal dress when she spins. It was a very clean and clever way to do a costume change right on stage. The lighting design was not anything too spectacular but I loved the somber moment when Ella was alone and the light faded to a single blue spotlight on her. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the show! I had seen a production of Cinderella before at a community theater but I loved the different design elements and acting choices the actors and designers made with Texas State University’s Cinderella. I loved the costume changes the most as it was a very clever way to change a costume and hide a costume very quickly extremely fast. I cannot wait to see what the Musical Theater Department does next with Mean Girls next fall.