The lights in the Brown Auditorium brightened and the magical music softened in a grand decrescendo. The theatre department’s production of “Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” had ended.
“Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella” was performed by 121 Upper School students.
“The play was so much fun,” Zoe An, a freshman and a member of the featured cast on Cinderella, said. “I love to perform. All the work I put in for any show is always worth it.”
There were intense rehearsals for eight to nine weeks with the practices on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The rehearsals lasted for four to eight hours.
An said some challenges she faced while preparing for “Cinderella” was having to manage her schoolwork, outside theatre work and singing classes.
Upperclassmen also shared An’s struggle with academic and extracurricular work, and, for seniors, college applications, which made time management for the musical all the more difficult.
“While it was a struggle to juggle homework and long rehearsals, I have developed a nice time management strategy over the past four years,” said Isabelle King, a senior who played the main character, Ella, in the show.
Even though the cast experienced a few challenges, they delivered three high-quality, entertaining shows.
The musical was commended by the The Tommy Tune Awards, a series of awards given to Houston-area high school productions for outstanding performance both on-stage and behind the scenes administered by the Theater Under the Stars. The show received 27 Tommy Tunes semifinalist nominations and went on to convert 12 of those nominations into finalists, including outstanding musical, outstanding ensemble, and individual nominations for several members of the cast. These are the most finalists Kinkaid has had in the recent past. The entire cast will perform at the Hobby Center for the Awards show on March 28.
“I always feel so alive while performing,” An said. “It oddly takes away my stress, and sharing a show at school with classmates is always special.”
Deciding whether or not to audition for the musical was a simple choice for An.
“I love performing, even though I’m not a classical musical theater singer, which is important for musicals like ‘Cinderella,’” she said.
During the musical, most of the cast had to do quick changes before having to run back on stage.
“It was basically intense cardio,” An said. “Everyone was running around.”
Overall, cast members felt the musical turned out well.
“I feel like this was the perfect show for our cast and crew. Everyone was perfectly cast and it was so much fun!” King said. “While I was onstage I had an influx of pride and satisfaction. Everyone on stage worked so hard and seeing it all come together on stage was such an enriching experience.”
