Magic Comes to Stage with Modern 'Cinderella' July 22-24, 29-31
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Makayla Shipe (as “Ella”), from left, Dana Edwards (“Madame”), and Celeste Alexander (“Gabrielle”) rehearse a scene from Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella on July 14 at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas. Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella opens July 22 at ASC.
ASC Brings Broadway Adaptation of Classic Fairy Tale to Bellamy Theater
Makayla Shipe (Ella)
A fresh take on a classic fairy tale comes to the stage as the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC) presents its summer musical, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 22-23, and July 29-30; and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 24 and July 31 in the Catherine M. Bellamy Theater at ASC’s home building, 701 S. Main St. in downtown Pine Bluff. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Tickets are $20 for ASC members and seniors, and $25 for nonmembers. Purchase them online, call 870-536-3375, or visit ASC’s front desk. The show is appropriate for all audiences
Caleb Menard (Prince Topher)
The production is sponsored by Simmons Bank.
Our heroine is the smart, beautiful young Ella, played by Makayla Shipe of Bryant. After her father dies, she lives in the care of her wicked, self-absorbed stepmother Madame (Dana Edwards of White Hall), and Madame’s two daughters, Charlotte (Valerie Arnold of Little Rock) and Gabrielle (Celeste Alexander of Pine Bluff).
Ella’s only friends are the animals in the woods; kooky eccentric Marie (Bethany Gere of White Hall), whose initial appearance is deceptive; and revolutionary firebrand Jean-Michel (Kasey Rowland of Pine Bluff).
Meanwhile, in another part of the kingdom, Prince Topher (Caleb Menard of White Hall) is trying to find himself and learn his place in the kingdom. When his scheming advisor Sebastian (J. Tyler Lewis of Little Rock) and his henchman Lord Pinkleton (Nick Farr of Little Rock) suggest hosting a ball for the prince to meet potential brides, Ella and Topher’s worlds come together.
The ensemble cast is Arin Bell, Keiren Minter, Raymond Wallace, and Teanna Williams, all of Pine Bluff; Paige Boast, Wesley Brown, Harlie Hipp, Leah Randle, and Lanie Ratliff, all of White Hall; Portia Jones of Altheimer; Taylor Oates of Redfield; and Will Witt of New Edinburg.
The musical is directed by Lindsey Collins, ASC’s theater programs coordinator. Collins’ previous directing credits at ASC include Razzle Dazzle: The Show Must Go On (2021), 9 to 5 The Musical (2021), Clue: At Home Version (2020), A Christmas Story (2019), Legally Blonde The Musical (2019), and Sister Act (2018).
Frequent collaborator and longtime theater volunteer Joel Anderson of Redfield is the co-director.
Cinderella also features musical direction by Faron Wilson , whose past shows at ASC include 9 to 5 the Musical, Legally Blonde the Musical, Razzle Dazzle, Chicago, Guys & Dolls, The Music Man, and many more. Choreography is Tanya Simpson (who has been volunteering at ASC since 1983), and her ASC credits include Razzle Dazzle, Chicago, and My Fair Lady.
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella co-director Joel Anderson (from left), director Lindsey Collins, Makayla Shipe (“Ella”), Caleb Menard (“Prince Topher”), Bethany Gere (“Marie”), and Celeste Alexander (“Gabrielle”) appear on KTHV-11’s morning show The Vine on Wednesday, July 20, to promote the production.
Updating a Timeless Classic
“We have an amazing cast. An amazing cast, amazing crew. The choreo and the sets are well, the choreo is amazing. The characters and the people playing them are amazing. The ensemble cast is great. The recordings we put together, the music are great. It will be a spectacular show, no matter what you come for. If you’re a music listener, you’ll come and you’ll enjoy the ensemble and the vocalists who are doing solos (or our main principal cast members). If you’re coming to see dancing you will love the dancing. If you’re coming to just see Cinderella, it’s a great adaptation of Cinderella. And the way we’ve put it together is a great portrayal of the story. ”
With a new book by Douglas Carter Beane, this version of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella debuted on Broadway in 2013, with Laura Osnes in the title role (for which she received a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination).
The Tony award-winning production was adapted from the original television specials. The first of the specials aired live on CBS on Sunday, March 31, 1957, and starred Julie Andrews. That broadcast was, at the time, the most widely viewed program in the history of television, drawing 107 million viewers.
“When [Richard] Rodgers and [Oscar] Hammerstein sat down to write Cinderella, they were crafting an original musical to be produced for television,” Collins explained. “Rather than think of the usual Broadway stage, they had to adapt their skills to what worked for the camera instead.”
Lindsey Collins, director of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
The 1965 recreation, starring Lesley Ann Warren, introduced the next generation to the fairy tale.
Then in 1997, the next iteration of “Cinderella” set a new standard for representation and diversity in screen musicals, starring Brandy in the title role and Whitney Houston as her fairy godmother.
When the creative team behind the new Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella began the process of adapting for the stage, they decided to focus on creating an expanded and fleshed-out version that would also be acceptable to a 21st-century audience, Collins explained.
“They wanted to focus on characters who would take charge of their own lives and destinies, and didn't think modern audiences would be interested in passive characters whose princes just drop from the sky,” she said. “What was created is a Broadway show with modern sensibilities, but with a whole lot of traditional theater magic.”
Collins continued, “What was created, and what the script represents, is a show with modern sensibilities, but with a whole lot of traditional theater magic. They wanted all the magic to happen in front of the audience's eyes. Everything would happen in theater time … with theater magic. It is with these changes that I have shaped and molded this show into what it is: A magical experience where, for at least two hours, audiences can truly believe in magic and that impossible things truly can happen every day.”
Although the story is updated, the musical features the original Rodgers & Hammerstein songs.
“I never realized just how gorgeous this music really is until I started the process of putting this show together,” Collins said. “The lyrics are stunning, and the way the music moves you to feel exactly what the songwriters want you to feel is a true testament to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical abilities to withstand the test of time.”
Collins continued, “The timeless classics, such as ‘Ten Minutes Ago,’ ‘In My Own Little Corner,’ and ‘Impossible’ are all present, but with new and fresh orchestration, allowing for newer audiences to become as engrossed as those who grew up loving the original. Kids and adults alike will be enraptured from the first note of the overture until the last notes ring out into the theater.”
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Makayla Shipe (as Ella) sings a number from Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella during rehearsal on July 14 at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas.
Returning and New Faces on the Stage
Cinderella, like many productions at ASC, features a mix of veteran performers and acting newcomers.
Makayla Shipe returns to the Catherine M. Bellamy Theater stage, three years after making her ASC debut in Legally Blonde the Musical in the lead role of Elle Woods.
“It’s been my dream to be Cinderella since I first watched a Disney princess movie,” Shipe said. “I’ve been Cinderella in Into The Woods twice but this is my dream Cinderella since I’ve been 3.”
A Bryant native, Shipe is a 2021 graduate of Bryant High School. She just completed her freshman year at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater.
Her CCM credits include Our Town (Choir), and Pippin (Understudy/Swing). Other shows and roles include Bonnie & Clyde (Young Bonnie/Chorus) and Tuck Everlasting (Chorus) with The Studio Theater in Little Rock; Newsies (Katherine Plumber) and Les Misérables (Cosette) with the Royal Theater in Benton; and Les Misérables (Young Eponine) with the Arkansas Repertory Theater.
Her co-star Caleb Menard is taking on his first lead role as Prince Topher. He previously appeared in ASC’s 9 to 5 The Musical in summer 2021 in an ensemble role, and in Razzle Dazzle: The Show Must Go On in fall 2021.
“It’s my maiden voyage, so to speak. I’ve never done a lead role before,” he said. “It’s my first acting experience, and the opportunity to be in a love story as my first show was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up. The positive messages of this show, the purely positive messages, the lightness of it, it’s nice. It’s good.”
Menard joked, “And I was very attracted to the idea of being able to just get on stage and smile and look pretty. Be in love.”
He also explained some of what sets Topher apart in this updated version of Cinderella from other fairy-tale princes.
“In the original, when people would think about Cinderella, they think about Prince Charming — he’s perfect, he has everything figured out, he’s literally a dream man,” Menard said. “And though Prince Topher is a dream man, he hasn’t really figured himself out yet. He doesn’t know who he is. And a lot of aspects that add a layer of depth that the original Cinderella or other versions of Cinderella don’t really have. So HE gets to develop as a character rather than just Cinderella getting to develop as a character.”
Menard is a 2022 graduate of White Hall High School and will be attending Rhodes College in Memphis this fall.
‘Better Than Just Magic’
Cinderella herself says audiences have a lot to look forward to.
“There’s magic in EVERY single number in the entire two-hour show,” Shipe said. “There’s something always happening. It’s better than just magic.”
For more information about Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, contact Lindsey Collins at lcollins@asc701.org or 870-536-3375.
