Last Thursday evening, fifty-four54 eager theatergoers piled into the University- hired bus and headed off to the Great White Way. These lucky ticket holders wentre going to see “Cinderella” on Broadway thanks to the efforts of the FUSA Late Night Programming team. This was the first Broadway show trip of the semester, and the excitement on the bus was running high.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” began previews at the Broadway Theater in New York City on Jan. 25 and will officially open on March 3. This is the first time this classic fairytale has been produced on Broadway.
Starring 2012 Tony Nominee for Best Actress in a Musical Laura Osnes as Ella and Santino Fontana as Prince Topher, this musical follows the basic plotline of the acclaimed Disney story with a few twists, new songs and a lot of magic.
The show begins with a scene in the woods, introducing Ella and Prince Topher to the audience, along with the two different worlds in which they were raised. Ella is an orphan living under the cruel hand of her stepmother, Madame, while Topher is shielded by the Prime Minister, Sebastian, from the harsh reality of the poverty that exists in his kingdom.
As the play continues, the magic begins to unfold. The audience meets two not-so-evil stepsisters, Gabrielle and Charlotte; Jean-Michel, a student activist; and Marie, Cinderella’s Fairy God Mother in disguise.
The night Fairfield students attended, there were a few technical difficulties with microphone levels, but that’s to be expected during previews. In spite of technical problems, the performances of each of the actors were close to flawless. Osnes’ voice was perfect for the title character: sweet, pure and melodic. She and the rest of the cast also excelled during extended dance sequences that left the audience cheering.
There were several moments of pure theatrical magic throughout the show. The Fairy God Mother flew through the air around the stage. The transformation of a pumpkin into a golden carriage and several small mice into horses happened right before the audience’s eyes. The transformation of Ella’s rags into a beautiful white ball gown caused the audience to gasp and applaud; Osnes didn’t leave the stage, but in a matter of moments she was glowing in a tiara, a stunning gown and, of course, a pair of delicate glass slippers.
Sophomore Christina Barry was a big fan of the show. “I absolutely loved the show. From both technical aspects like lighting, set and costume design − which I thought was witchcraft − to the actual incredible singing and acting, it was an amazing night,” she said.
Trips to Broadway are sponsored several times throughout the semester by FUSA Late Night Programming and are organized by student directors Nicole Rende ‘15, Kristina Graham ‘15, Kelly Miraglia ‘15 and Megan Lewis ‘15. For this first trip of the semester, all of the FUSA tickets were sold out and the bus was filled with students ranging from freshmen to seniors. Rende said that the trip went off without a hitch. The bus arrived a few blocks from the theater about an hour and a half before curtain, giving students time to get dinner and explore Times Square.
Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for more FUSA sponsored trips to Disney’s “Newsies,” “Matlida the Musical” and the winner of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical, “Avenue Q.”
Leave a Reply