Cinderella on stage at Missoula Children's Theatre
The Missoula Children’s Theatre has selected the most enchanting musical for the 2024-2025 Community Series finale. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella will be on stage April 24-27, May 1-4 and 8-11, 2025, breathing new life into the timeless story with the 1997 ‘Enchanted Version.’
Previous films featured Julie Andrews (1957) and Lesley Ann Warren (1965) as Cinderella. For MCT’s production, Director Heather Adams cast MCT veteran Lucy Taylor (Rent, SpongeBob the Musical) in the title role. Adams comments that “This version is even more accessible to current audiences and allows for a wide variety of casting choices. It’s a classic fairy tale that will bend your expectations a bit. This production has many small scenes, duets with familiar and beautiful music, all with a couple of fun ensemble production numbers from a talented cast. Those familiar with Rogers and Hammerstein will love going into this theatrical experience with those memories and make new ones with this fresh take on the old tale.”
Words such as ‘palace ball’, ‘glass slipper’, ‘prince’, and where ‘a plain yellow pumpkin can become a golden carriage’ are about all that’s needed to stir the memories and imaginations of many generations of people, making this the perfect, G-rated family show with which to top off the season. The Music Director is Gregory Boris, with Meagen Hensley-Shapiro (Studio M Owner and Director) providing the choreography.
The cast of thirty includes eight children, with five actors making their MCT debut. Adams gushes that “We have a very strong ensemble and it’s exciting to bring new people into the MCT community, to experiment, and to play with theatre magic. The costumes are opulent, the music carries you through the story with lots of underscoring, and there is so much dancing! It’s wonderful to take the archetypes, make it contemporary and see it become, well… enchanting.”
The story of Cinderella dreaming to escape a life of drudgery under her cruel Stepmother and marrying the Prince may seem impossible but with help from her Fairy Godmother, it just might be possible. Cinderella is whisked off to the Palace Ball to dance with the Prince, but with a Midnight curfew. Losing a shoe as she flees causes the Prince to begin a kingdom-wide search to perfectly match the glass slipper with the foot of his mysterious new love. (Perfect-fitting shoes are real…in fairy tales). Cinderella transports you to a time and place where a plain yellow pumpkin can become a golden carriage (“Impossible”). If the shoe fits, live happily ever after.
Show sponsors are Stockman Bank and Jewelry Design Center. Performances of Cinderella are April 24*-May 11, 2025. *Thursday, April 24 is Premiere Night with special offerings and pricing. Tickets are on sale at www.MCTinc.org or call 406-728-7529.