Junior Stage 80 (JS80) presented their adaptation of the classic Rogers + Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella’ at the beautiful Waterside Arts Centre.
It was clear from the buzzing audience that there were many family members and friends of the cast present for the opening night. I hadn’t heard of Junior Stage 80 before this evening, but I believe it to be a well-established group with over 37 previous productions dating from 1985.
Julie Besbrode and Tanya Temkin are the JS80 producers who state in the brochure that: “Community is at the heart of JS80 and it always has been and will remain so. It is one of their key founding principles and what glues them together. Their rehearsals are a microcosm of the wider Jewish community where they gather twice weekly for 6 months of the year, as one big, loud, hardworking, attention seeking, happy family”! – This was clearly evident this evening with a huge sense of community and family from the audience.
JS80’s adaptation of Cinderella saw new twists to the story and a few alterations to the characters, however the story remained inline with the tale we all know and love. The show had two acts both lasting one hour with a 20-minute interval, the staging consisted of a basic set and the main settings were through the use of projection onto curtains to indicate specific scenes and locations.
The story is that of a young woman named Ella (Marissa Cohen) who lives with her stepmother Madame (Wendy Schweiger) and stepsisters Gabrielle (Liora Sallon) and Charlotte (Anya Ordman), who treat her as a servant girl following the death of her late father. Named Cinderella by her cruel stepmother due to sitting beside the cinders in the fireplace which covers her clothes, Ella dreams of a better life.
The prince of the kingdom has returned from university to take the rein as King following his parents’ death, Prince Topher (Solly Temkin) has an advisor Sebastian (Andrew Farley) who seems to have his own agenda on how the town should be run with his colleague Lord Pinkleton (Ben Sallon). Jean-Michel (Julian Farley) soon sets his crusade determined that his efforts will stop the injustice of the hierarchy with his strong beliefs of fairness to his fellow man, but he has to get to the prince for him to hear his plea.
Prince Topher and Ella meet when he is on his way to the palace, and they share a moment together which sparks their attraction to each other and with the help of the crazy lady Marie (Debbie Hilton) from the woods her wishes of a better life take a turn for the better. Following a grand ball and a royal banquet we are all aware of the happy ever after for these two, with the moral lesson being that Cinderella teaches them about how to behave in the world and that kindness will be always rewarded, whereas selfishness will not.
The overall production from JS80 had some magical moments with a number of strong vocals throughout, especially from Marissa Cohen, Andrew Farley, and Ben Sallon. Anya Ordman did a sterling job of her portrayal of Charlotte, bringing just the right amount of comedy into the production, I thoroughly enjoyed Ordman’s stage presence throughout the evening. The cast did a splendid job on stage delivering their individual roles and certainly seemed to be enjoying their participation.
Well done to the production, direction team, cast and chorus and to the fabulous six-piece live band for a pleasant production of Cinderella.
In Cinderella’s own words: “Be kind, have courage and always believe in a little magic. Where there is kindness, there is goodness. And where this goodness, there is magic. A dream is a wish your heart makes”.
The show runs until the 12th November 2023, https://watersidearts.org/whats-on/3447-js80-rodgers-hammersteins-cinderella/
Reviewer: Katie Leicester
Reviewed: 7th November 2023
North West End UK Rating: