Local Review: The Kids n Co. Production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella"
To say the very least, the Kids n Co production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" was tragic. The production certainly did have it's moments, but most of the time it was a lamentable mess.
One of the biggest problems with this production is one that has to do with the cast as a whole. EVERYONE could be louder. Everyone. From the title role to the smallest mouse. There were many moments throughout the entire show where I had no clue what some of the characters were saying. Some of it may have been due to (not only poor projection) but due to the bad acoustics and unfortunate acting choices.
The adaptation of this version of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" was by Tom Briggs and John Higgens. Briggs and Higgens were clearly uncertain of what time period they wanted the character's to speak in. Another huge issue I had with the adaptation was that all of the dialogue was too simple and dull.
In the title role of Cinderella, Graciela Blandon looks and sounds vocally lovely. However, due to the poor adaptation and blocking, she was clearly held back from being the best that she can be. In this version, Cinderella maybe says seven words in the first act, causing the character to fade into the background as a supporting role. This also leads to Blandon wandering through the role with a blank look on her face because that is what the script gave her to work with.
The character of Cinderella is a doormat. In this adaptation, she is nothing but a doormat. The entire show, she lets her Stepfamily walk all over and she does absolutely nothing about it. In fact, a few scenes in I was starting to think that the Stepfamily wasn't using her as a servant because they didn't like her, but because they saw how much of a doormat she was and they wanted to take advantage of that.
The grace and the light on the stage was Noelia Collins, who played the role of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. She has a very gorgeous voice and a graceful stage presence in her one scene. Collins was truly the saving grace of this production and was criminally underused. Another huge standout was Brit Bagley as the Herald. At first I did not care for the character, but as the show went on I grew to enjoy Bagley's performance.
The weakest link of this production was Cinderella's Prince, played by Christopher Fogel. Throughout the entire show, I had problems hearing him and his acting was predictable. In addition to this, his singing voice is rather weak. The chemistry between Blandon and Fogel seemed to be nonexistent.
As Cinderella's stepmother, Mia Carreon did quite a good job. But, she never came across as evil. She just read as a moderately irritating person. Same goes for Rebekah Bowden and Emily Shackelford who played the stepsisters.
Similar to Cinderella's Stepfamily, The King and Queen (Toey Loya and Isabella Candelaria) never read as royal in the way that they spoke and carried themselves. I also could barely hear either Loya or Canderlaria during any of their scenes. Their duet could have been a nice moment in the show, but it went down the drain since I could not hear either of them.
Perhaps the shakiest parts of this production was the direction by Skyler Carreon. The blocking was strange and the pacing was awful. One of the biggest problems I had with the blocking was that Cinderella and the Prince were dancing at the back of the ball where no one could see them and that during some of the songs, most notably, Cinderella's "In My Own Little Corner", she was limited to using only a certain amount of the stage, which really took away from the charm that the song conveys. There were a few things that he got right. I thought the way that he had the animals as puppets was cute and there were a few small things that I thought were effective. This isn't quite related to the production, but I thought that Carreon's speech before the show was unnecessarily long. After a few words, it just turned into rambling and the audience was impatient and ready to get on with the show.
Aside from the negative, the production had it's moments. I thought "The Stepsister's Lament" was a lot of fun and it was well performed by Bowden and Shakelford. Carreon's number in the first act was also good, but it did not showcase her talent enough. I also thought that the "Impossible" scene between Collins and Blandon was well sung, despite the luster it lacked. I give big kudos to the music director, Laura Sambrano, because all of the chorus numbers sounded very nice and clean.
In this production, a lot of the songs abruptly ended. For example during "The Prince is Giving a Ball" and a few other songs, the songs ended but very few people in the audience were sure they ended, making some of the applause awkward and uncertain.
The costumes (by Sharon Moore and Janet Lee) were fine, the only costumes I had real issues with were those worn by Cinderella and her Stepfamily. The Stepfamily's costumes weren't outrageous enough. Meanwhile the dress that Cinderella was originally going to wear to the ball before her Stepmother tore it apart looked like it just came fresh off the set of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding". The dress that Cinderella wore to the ball was a nice dress, but it didn't quite scream Cinderella. In fact it took away from her entrance into the ball because it didn't sparkle enough. Cinderella's entrance into the ball should be the most memorable moments of the show, but it was not due to the out of place dress and the electronic sound the music had. On another more costume note, you cannot get away with doing "Cinderella" without a onstage dress transformation. It has been and will always be the best part of the entire show and when it is not there, there is no point.
It would be unfair of me to criticize the set (by Skyler Carreon) because of the way the venue is set up, but they made good use of the space, set wise. Although it was minimal, it did look very good on the stage.
If this production lacked anything, it was magic. "Cinderella" is a hard show to sell without the magic. It also lacked anything new. "Cinderella" is a tale as old as time (Yes, that was a "Beauty and the Beast" reference) and without anything new, there is nothing to keep the audience entranced because everyone knows the story. There was nothing in this production to keep the audience with the show which caused the production to drag. I think that with better direction, this could have been a nice production of "Cinderella" with a few weak elements. But alas, in this production the negative overshadowed the little positive. I must say that I know many of the people who worked on this production and I know they could all do much better than this.
The cast of the Kids n Co production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" consists of:
Cinderella- GRACIELA BLANDON
Prince Charming- CHRISTOPHER FOGEL
Fairy Godmother- NOELIA COLLINS
Stepmother- MIA CARREON
Joy (Stepsister)- REBEKAH BOWDEN
Grace (Stepsister)- EMILY SHACKELFORD
King- TOEY LOYA
Queen- ISABELLA CANDELARIA
Herald- BRIT BAGLEY
One of the biggest problems with this production is one that has to do with the cast as a whole. EVERYONE could be louder. Everyone. From the title role to the smallest mouse. There were many moments throughout the entire show where I had no clue what some of the characters were saying. Some of it may have been due to (not only poor projection) but due to the bad acoustics and unfortunate acting choices.
The adaptation of this version of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" was by Tom Briggs and John Higgens. Briggs and Higgens were clearly uncertain of what time period they wanted the character's to speak in. Another huge issue I had with the adaptation was that all of the dialogue was too simple and dull.
In the title role of Cinderella, Graciela Blandon looks and sounds vocally lovely. However, due to the poor adaptation and blocking, she was clearly held back from being the best that she can be. In this version, Cinderella maybe says seven words in the first act, causing the character to fade into the background as a supporting role. This also leads to Blandon wandering through the role with a blank look on her face because that is what the script gave her to work with.
The character of Cinderella is a doormat. In this adaptation, she is nothing but a doormat. The entire show, she lets her Stepfamily walk all over and she does absolutely nothing about it. In fact, a few scenes in I was starting to think that the Stepfamily wasn't using her as a servant because they didn't like her, but because they saw how much of a doormat she was and they wanted to take advantage of that.
The grace and the light on the stage was Noelia Collins, who played the role of Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. She has a very gorgeous voice and a graceful stage presence in her one scene. Collins was truly the saving grace of this production and was criminally underused. Another huge standout was Brit Bagley as the Herald. At first I did not care for the character, but as the show went on I grew to enjoy Bagley's performance.
The weakest link of this production was Cinderella's Prince, played by Christopher Fogel. Throughout the entire show, I had problems hearing him and his acting was predictable. In addition to this, his singing voice is rather weak. The chemistry between Blandon and Fogel seemed to be nonexistent.
As Cinderella's stepmother, Mia Carreon did quite a good job. But, she never came across as evil. She just read as a moderately irritating person. Same goes for Rebekah Bowden and Emily Shackelford who played the stepsisters.
Similar to Cinderella's Stepfamily, The King and Queen (Toey Loya and Isabella Candelaria) never read as royal in the way that they spoke and carried themselves. I also could barely hear either Loya or Canderlaria during any of their scenes. Their duet could have been a nice moment in the show, but it went down the drain since I could not hear either of them.
Perhaps the shakiest parts of this production was the direction by Skyler Carreon. The blocking was strange and the pacing was awful. One of the biggest problems I had with the blocking was that Cinderella and the Prince were dancing at the back of the ball where no one could see them and that during some of the songs, most notably, Cinderella's "In My Own Little Corner", she was limited to using only a certain amount of the stage, which really took away from the charm that the song conveys. There were a few things that he got right. I thought the way that he had the animals as puppets was cute and there were a few small things that I thought were effective. This isn't quite related to the production, but I thought that Carreon's speech before the show was unnecessarily long. After a few words, it just turned into rambling and the audience was impatient and ready to get on with the show.
Aside from the negative, the production had it's moments. I thought "The Stepsister's Lament" was a lot of fun and it was well performed by Bowden and Shakelford. Carreon's number in the first act was also good, but it did not showcase her talent enough. I also thought that the "Impossible" scene between Collins and Blandon was well sung, despite the luster it lacked. I give big kudos to the music director, Laura Sambrano, because all of the chorus numbers sounded very nice and clean.
In this production, a lot of the songs abruptly ended. For example during "The Prince is Giving a Ball" and a few other songs, the songs ended but very few people in the audience were sure they ended, making some of the applause awkward and uncertain.
The costumes (by Sharon Moore and Janet Lee) were fine, the only costumes I had real issues with were those worn by Cinderella and her Stepfamily. The Stepfamily's costumes weren't outrageous enough. Meanwhile the dress that Cinderella was originally going to wear to the ball before her Stepmother tore it apart looked like it just came fresh off the set of "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding". The dress that Cinderella wore to the ball was a nice dress, but it didn't quite scream Cinderella. In fact it took away from her entrance into the ball because it didn't sparkle enough. Cinderella's entrance into the ball should be the most memorable moments of the show, but it was not due to the out of place dress and the electronic sound the music had. On another more costume note, you cannot get away with doing "Cinderella" without a onstage dress transformation. It has been and will always be the best part of the entire show and when it is not there, there is no point.
It would be unfair of me to criticize the set (by Skyler Carreon) because of the way the venue is set up, but they made good use of the space, set wise. Although it was minimal, it did look very good on the stage.
If this production lacked anything, it was magic. "Cinderella" is a hard show to sell without the magic. It also lacked anything new. "Cinderella" is a tale as old as time (Yes, that was a "Beauty and the Beast" reference) and without anything new, there is nothing to keep the audience entranced because everyone knows the story. There was nothing in this production to keep the audience with the show which caused the production to drag. I think that with better direction, this could have been a nice production of "Cinderella" with a few weak elements. But alas, in this production the negative overshadowed the little positive. I must say that I know many of the people who worked on this production and I know they could all do much better than this.
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The cast of the Kids n Co production of "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" consists of:
Cinderella- GRACIELA BLANDON
Prince Charming- CHRISTOPHER FOGEL
Fairy Godmother- NOELIA COLLINS
Stepmother- MIA CARREON
Joy (Stepsister)- REBEKAH BOWDEN
Grace (Stepsister)- EMILY SHACKELFORD
King- TOEY LOYA
Queen- ISABELLA CANDELARIA
Herald- BRIT BAGLEY
This review?!?! Right in front of my salad???!!?!?
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