From April 4-12, Irvington’s Conservatory Theater (ICT) performed the musical Cinderella for its annual Spring Showcase. The production was based on playwrights Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which featured 2 acts of heart and fairy-tale charm.
It followed the classic story of young Ella (Rachel Ristau), who is given an opportunity to attend Prince Topher’s (Daniel Sadsad) ball, despite the cruelty of her stepmother (London Roush) and stepsisters (Priyanka Chitlu as Charlotte and Athmika Sekar as Gabrielle, with Ella Le stepping in for Gabrielle as an understudy for a few shows).
From the ballroom dancing scenes to heartfelt monologues, it was clear that the cast poured much effort into their performance. Mr. Ballin, the ICT director, expressed, “This is a great group of kids that worked really hard, despite the incredibly long hours we were rehearsing.”
The musical has been months in the planning, with planning first taking place in the Spring of 2024 and casting auditions in December. Throughout it, the production experienced many highlights and overcame challenges. Ristau, who played Ella, reflected on her experience. “Even when parts of rehearsal were hard, we still supported each other and made sure nobody got left behind.”
Ristau also shared that her favorite scene to perform was Cinderella’s transition: “Seeing the audience’s reactions to the animals becoming real and my rag dress turning into a ball gown was sweet and very memorable.”
Mr. Ballin described working with the cast as a highlight in itself. “Watching the characters take shape and for the kids to grow into their parts was amazing.” He explained that the cast was a good mix of actors who had worked with ICT before and new faces. Sadsad, for example, who played Prince Topher, had worked with ICT for the past 8 productions, while it was Ristau’s first time working with ICT.
However, bringing magic to the stage was not an easy process. Padma Mahdyasta (10), a stage technician, described how the set production team first had to brainstorm ideas for the set from the play’s time period, design the set pieces, and then work on building parts. “Painting can be extremely tedious when it comes to intricate designs,” Mahdyasta added. Portraying scenes like Cinderella’s ball gown transformation and the animals becoming coachmen presented their own set of theatrical challenges, but the production team was able to overcome this by creatively rigging costumes and running wires across the stage to animate the animal characters, bringing the fairy tale to life for the audience.
Through months of preparation, rehearsals, and hard work, ICT’s Cinderella charmed audiences and created unforgettable experiences for the production team involved. The show not only demonstrated theatrical talent, but also showcased the dedication and collaboration behind the scenes that made the overall production possible.
