Review: CINDERELLA at Children's Theatre Company

There's something for everybody in this raucous and hilarious CINDERELLA. The considerable resources of Minneapolis' renowned Children's Theatre Company ensure that there's plenty of glitter and stage magic and romance (lite) for the kids, but there are also cat videos, a Tshirt slingshot, a killer drag rendition of Joe Cocker's "You are So Beautiful" and even a poop emoji blanket. Grownups and little ones alike are induced by consummate theater pros to hoot and holler and dance and have a rip-roaring good time together at this fresh update of an audience favorite. It's a really smart show that hews to the moral center of the old fairy tale native to many cultures around the world but steers entirely clear of stuffiness. And it manages to replace the original vicious ending for the stepsisters with forgiveness modeled by our heroine (played by Traci Allen Shannon), without going all treacly.

Here, the Cinderella story is framed by a Victorian Christmas party with period costumes worthy of any Nutcracker, enlivened with snippets of holiday carols and short dance numbers, all supported by a live pit of seven hard working musicians led by music director/composer/ funny man Victor Supanc. The look is very much Dickensian (though far more racially diverse), so it's easy to shift into the outrageous British Christmas panto tradition of drag for the stepsisters. In those roles, longtime company members Reed Sigmund and Dean Holt, aided by Autumn Ness as the Stepmother, threaten to steal the show for those of us over 10.

The cast is deliberately very multicultural, and the ensemble uses quite a few local teens and young performers. Both Cinderella and her Prince (David L. Murray, Jr.) are people of color.

Scenic and costume designer Eduardo Sicango has kept an army of scenic painters and stitchers busy creating the detailed sets and lavish costumes which range from sumptuous satin and tulle (for the court) to wacky parody in day glo colors (for the wicked stepfamily). He's designed for Radio City Music Hall so grandiosity is no stretch. Credit goes also to longtime artistic director Peter Brosius who has managed the balance between traditional storytelling and panto-inspired shenanigans pretty perfectly, and to the committed performers who know exactly what notes they are trying to strike when.

This crowd pleaser includes warm-hearted audience participation and runs through January 8 in the larger of the Children's Theater's two stages. It's not easy to take such a familiar story and retain what's appealing about it while throwing in irreverent contemporary gags without hitting an off note. A show like this can only be mounted by a big company with significant resources. It's good to see the Children's Theatre use their power to support a company of five actors with steady work, welcome and model a multicultural society without preaching, and build the audience of the future.

Photo credit: Dan Norman