Theater people aren’t daunted by a little thing like an international
pandemic. Theaters all over the world have shut down in the wake of
COVID-19, even the big shows on Broadway.
The last show I
reviewed for The Enterprise was Davis Musical Theater Company’s (DMTC)
production of “Camelot” in March of 2020. Now DMTC is presenting its
virtual production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”
through March 21. While it is not the same as seeing it live in a
theater, it’s surprisingly good.
If there is any “star” of this
production, it’s director Steve Isaacson, who describes the process by
which this show was created:
“The scenes are live from the
actors' homes, recorded in front of a green screen, and the musical
numbers are recorded, each person in front of the green screen at the
theater. Then I painstakingly, and I mean painstakingly, take each of
the over 200 video files and key out the green screen (which can take
from a few minutes to a few hours each!) and place them on my virtual
stage.”
Anyone who has ever tried to get a chorus to sing “Happy
Birthday” to a friend on a Zoom call should realize the problems of
getting all the voices together and matching them not only note for
note, but also the acoustical differences in the places where they are
recorded. It’s a technological challenge.
Starting with the
sets, since everything is done in front of a green screen so that the
sets are actually projected, this is definitely the best looking show
DMTC has ever done. The interior of the castle alone looks like the
Hall of Mirrors in Versailles and the town where everyone lives could be
off of a postcard.
The cast is excellent, particularly Hannah
Salas in the title role, Beth Ellen Ethridge as the Fairy Godmother, and
Chris Cay Stewart as the Queen.
Musical direction is by Kyle Jackson and choreography is by Arianna Manabat.
The opening number is so well sung and danced that it’s difficult to believe that all those people aren’t on the stage together.
Dannette
Vassar is the stepmother, while Andrea Borquin is daughter Portia and
Morgan Bartoe is daughter Joy. Discussions among the family are done
with Zoom and costumer Jean Henderson has made those beautiful actresses
downright ugly in their animosity toward each other and particularly
toward Cinderella. Heidi Johnson is given credit for creating the
headdresses for the three women.
Duets are filmed on the stage,
each actor doing his or her part alone, for Isaacson to put together
later. Some duets work better than others. One particularly good one
is between the Queen and King (Richard Spierto), who sing to each other
while facing each other, holding hands. The position of the hands of
each of them is perfect and it’s difficult to realize they really aren’t
holding hands.
The magic of the fairy godmother, turning a
pumpkin into a carriage, mice into horses, and Cinderella into a
beautifully dressed woman is impressive, though Cinderella doesn’t seem
to be surprised at her new appearance.
The only disappointing
scene is the ballroom scene in the palace. There are too many people
doing too many things, most of which don’t come together the way they
are intended, with some people the wrong size and people walking into
each other or popping from one side of the stage to the other. This may
be partly because of three different PCs crashing on Friday. Sadly,
the crashes prevented Cinderella from descending the stairs on her
departure from the castle, a beautiful scene in the promo for the show..
Still the prince (Hugo Figueroa) finds his Cinderella and the glass slipper fits and everyone lives happily ever after.
This
is not a perfect production, but it’s an amazing undertaking and well
worth seeing, especially if you’ve been missing theater for the past
year – and you don’t need to wear a mask.
