Photo by Lester Smith
In a beautiful duet with Caelie Flanagan as Cinderella, fairy godmother Olivia Grimard tells the unfavored stepdaughter, “There’s Music in You! . . You Can Be Anything You Want!” before sending her off to a second ball. This was a surprisingly rewritten version of the old fairy tale.
This time, Cinderella dashed back and grabbed the glass slipper that had fallen off as she ran from the ball when the clock tolled midnight. And there was a second ball, held by the young prince in the hope that the lovely girl he had met would return. Well, she did return, and this time, when the clock struck, she started to run, but stopped, pulled off her slipper, and tossed it back before escaping. There were other interesting rewrites in this Broadway adaptation of the fairy tale, all very well presented by the Suffield High School Drama Club in this year’s spring musical, March 16, 17, and 18.
Caelie Flanagan – no surprise – stood out with her lovely voice and grand command of stage action. This is her final year at SHS, and her Cinderella was a great final gift to Suffield. She was not alone among the excellent performances in this musical, however, as Olivia Grimard shared several beautiful duets and carried off her role as the crazy old lady/fairy godmother with skill, humor, and grace. And Ben Grigoriou, as Prince Topher (that’s short for Christopher) was a strong performer, revealing another good voice.
In a sweet sub-plot, Jean-Michel, a Bohemian type, succeeds as a suitor of Cinderella’s sister Gabrielle and urges improvements in the royal government; Jack Flanagan and Cammy Gallagher carried those supporting roles well. Adding political intrigue, the schemes of Lord Chancellor Sebastian and his henchman Lord Pinkleton, properly played by Ezra Fisher and Felix Antwi-Mensa, are nicely deterred, and it seems that the good advice of Jean Michel and Cinderella will guide Prince Topher as he follows his father to the throne.
There were several grand dance scenes in Cinderella, gorgeously colorful and musically active, with impressive costumes and action. Among the stage settings, Prince Topher on horseback with his soldiers, Cinderella’s magical carriage for the first ball, and the immense image of the full moon projected on the backdrop in some lovely forest scenes were particularly well done. And whose hand animated that cute squirrel who popped out of his nest in the tree trunk during Cinderella’s soliloquy? There was no program credit for the puppeteer of that delightful touch!