The prince is having a ball, and so is the cast of Lincoln County Community Theater’s “Cinderella,” as they tread the boards in Rodger and Hammerstein’s Tony Award-winning confection.
“We always choose a big production because we want a large ensemble,” said Lincoln Theater Executive Director Christina Belknap. “We want a lot of music for the ensemble to sing. We want a lot of opportunities for the ensemble to be able to be involved.”
Director John Mulcahy said he chose “Cinderella” for the company’s spring musical because he knew he had two talented young people eager to take on the lead roles.
Evelyn LaCroix, a high school sophomore from Skowhegan, first auditioned for the company during an open call when she was 13. Mulcahy recalled her as “phenomenal” but he didn’t have the right role to showcase her talents. “Cinderella” fits her like a glove – or in this case, a glass slipper.
LaCroix is an accomplished actor, singer, and dancer who has performed in a number of high profile venues in Maine. This will be her first role at Lincoln Theater.
Mulcahy knew Harrison Pierpan would make a great prince. He’s followed Pierpan’s acting since his days with the Y-Arts program at the Boothbay Region YMCA. Now a Lincoln Academy senior, Pierpan has acted in a wide range of local productions, including the leads in the Heartwood Regional Theater Co.’s production of “Les Miserables” and the Lincoln Academy production of “Oklahoma.”
For Belknap, inclusivity is key for members of the ensemble and for audiences. Another reason “Cinderella” was chosen was because it’s family friendly.
“We’ve sold a lot of tickets to kids,” Belknap said. “I can picture kids in their princess dresses and I love that. I love things that are inclusive of the whole community, everybody can come. Everybody loves it.”
“Cinderella” may be LCCT’s most ambitious production to date, with a cast of more than 30 players, a 14-piece orchestra and a fairytale set in hues of royal purple created by scenic designer Mary Sue Weeks.
Weeks has been painting sets for Lincoln County Community Theater for more than 10 years. For “Cinderella” Mulcahy wanted purple so Weeks painted the set in gradations of that rich color moving from dark to light.
“John envisions it and I try to create it,” she said.
They kept the floor light, matching it to the oversized fairytale pages that bookend the stage. Weeks spent seven hours spatter-painting the floor by hand to add texture.
There are random visual elements from the story sprinkled “here, there, and everywhere,” Weeks said, such as stars, a castle, pumpkins, and a pair of slippers.
“It just looks beautiful because of the hours of work she puts in up on a ladder you couldn’t pay me to climb to the top of,” Belknap said.
The production features new choreography by local talent Phaelon O’Donnell, elaborate costuming by newcomer Amanda Shepard, and lighting, sound, and special effects from technical director Damon Leibert.
O’Donnell auditioned for LCCT during an open call last summer. She has a strong background in theater and dance, starting as a kid with local productions including some at Lincoln Theater.
She credits summers with the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston with giving her “the joy of movement” and inspiring her to study theater at the University of Maine and choreography at Smith College in Massachusetts.
The waltz she created for the two leads illuminates the potential inherent in the relationship between the prince and Ella.
“It foreshadows the wonderful rhythm they could have for the rest of their lives,” O’Donnell said.
The dancing in the town square scene is “just joyous and fun,” O’Donnell said. “It gives the audience permission to jump into the celebratory mood of the piece … this world of mystery magic and possibility.”
O’Donnell likened the experience of creating the choreography for “Cinderella” to creating three layers of a cake. First mapping out the dance, letting the music inform the movement and the cadence. Then bringing it to the performers, letting them embody what she created but also letting them bring their own skills and experience to bear.
“The frosting was John (Mulcahy),” she said. “He has such a vision and really knows just what to do and just when to do it. It’s a joy to collaborate with him. He’s brilliant.”
Shepard has a theater arts degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where she studied costume design and construction. After college she landed a job with the Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington, Del.
During the pandemic Shepard and her family made Lincoln County their permanent home, after having been a summer resident in Boothbay Harbor.
After she filled out a questionnaire on the LCCT website, Shepard was contacted by Mulcahy who tasked her with building “a magical dress.” She began creating the production’s fanciful finery in the doldrums of winter.
Originally, Shepard wanted to create regency era costuming, but the demands of the production called for more dramatic dresses. Her designs are based on late 18th-century styles with hip swags and peplums.
For Ella’s more provincial costume Shepard constructed the bodice and a two layer skirt using “a really beautiful fabric with lots of embroidery” within its earthy tones. It has patches of teal blue to play up LaCroix’s coloring.
Shepard said Ella’s ball gown was more complex. It is not the pale blue so strongly associated with the Disney version. Lines in the script and the music refer to a snowy white dress, so the gown is crafted from layers of fluffy white organza with gold filigree lace applique on the bodice and hems and swags and capped sleeves of iridescent gold lame.
“It was difficult to noodle out the engineering,” Shepard said, but the end result is a show-stopper.
For technical director Leibert, all the work he does is in service to the magic of having 30 or 40 people creating music on stage. “They’re the star of the show,” he said.
The show wouldn’t exist, however, without lights, audio, a stage and that’s where he and his crew of volunteer carpenters and electricians come in.
“He’ll do anything we ask him to do,” Belknap said. “And he’ll do it safely and brilliantly.”
Leibert doesn’t have a scene shop to build the elements of the production so he’s faced with working around Lincoln Theater’s robust schedule of events as he produces the set and props on site.
“Cinderella” presented some challenges, such as covering a vast amount of space with limited lighting; custom building a platform on stage to support the 14-piece orchestra; deploying dry ice to create the creeping fog that enhances a dramatic moment, wiring and suspending a dozen chandeliers and pumpkin-shaped lights from a 21-foot ceiling.
With five years in his role, Leibert is relatively unfazed by the myriad demands placed on his shoulders.
“Lighting, sound, video – nothing really worries me except time,” he said.
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s version of the Cinderella story was originally written for television. It premiered in 1957 with Julie Andrews in the starring role. It was the most widely viewed program in history, with an audience of 107 million people, 60% of the country’s population at that time. An updated production debuted on Broadway in 2013, earning nine Tony nominations.
“Cinderella” will take the stage at Lincoln Theater Friday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 7 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available in advance at lincolntheater.net. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the door beginning 30 minutes before showtime.
