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A Tale Of Cinderella

Music by Will Severin & George David Weiss
Lyrics by George David Weiss
Book by W. A. Frankonis
Premiered in 1994

Synopsis

In the time of fairy tales and magic, in the Italian city of Venice, A Tale of Cinderella begins with the Venetians greeting a new day (Buon Giorno). A costumed and masked stranger, who is the Prince in disguise, hears a sad tale of long ago from a Gondolier and the Venetians about a local family (The Tale of Cinderella). He learns about Paolo, Giametta, and their child, Angelina, who is raised by her father after her mother dies (Hear Us). Angelina still lives in Venice, only now she has a stepmother and stepsisters.

As the Prince departs, a grown-up Angelina, busily cleans the hearth (Cinderella) while her new stepsisters mockingly dub her la cenerčntola - the Cinderella. Paolo returns from a merchant voyage to reveal he has lost two ships and as a result, nearly all their money. The stepsisters, Seppia and Moltovoce, and the stepmother, Pulchitruda, selfishly lament the prospect of poverty (Poor, Poor, Poor).

Cinderella reassures her father that they will be happy again despite his losses (In the Air). He wonders why she is doing all the housework, as if she were a servant, and confronts his new wife, telling her that she and her daughters should help out (These Graceful Hands / Stepmother Casts a Spell). Pulchitruda complains about Cinderella, and to keep Paolo from interfering, she abuses the power of a magic amulet - which is intended to help people find love - by enchanting him with it.

The Stepsisters, meanwhile, mock Cinderella as she plays with the children (Showoff), and ruin her whole day's work by upsetting the laundry she has just cleaned, leaving her sad and dispirited in the town square. Her Godmama, La Stella, arrives, first only as a voice in the air and then in her magic gondola, and encourages Cinderella not to lose hope (Have Faith).

Hearing sounds in the night, La Stella hides Cinderella in the shadows and magically makes herself look like a wall. The Prince, on his way to a masquerade party, arrives with his boastful godfather, Il Compari, who also urges the Prince to hide in the shadows when La Stella challenges them. The two godparents then confront each other.

The Prince, meanwhile, discovers Cinderella and befriends her by helping to collect the scattered and now-dirty laundry. When she leaves, the Prince admits to Il Compari that he is in love with the laundress and urges his godfather to help him win her (Make Magic). Il Compari discovers his sword may be magic because when he waves it, they hear Cinderella singing in the distance. The Prince cleverly plans a great ball for all the unmarried women of Venice, at which each must sing for him so he can identify the beautiful laundress and make her his wife.

After they leave the square, Cinderella dreamily returns, herself in love with the masked stranger. To the night, she bids him happy dreams and falls asleep. But her own dreams become a frightening nightmare (Demons and Devils and Witches) filled with threatening figures and the menacing presence of her stepmother and stepsisters.

She is wakened by the arrival of the king's messenger who announces the Grand Venetian Wife-Hunt Ball (Peliculo) for the following night. Paolo promises to buy Cinderella a gown so she can go to the ball, and as the act ends, excited Venetians begin frenzied preparations for the grand festivities (Unmarried Women).

Act II opens with the new day dawning (Out of the Ashes) and Cinderella preparing breakfast, which the Stepsisters haughtily demand (Bring My Porridge). Pulchitruda insults Cinderella's mother, and when Paolo warns her to say nothing about his first wife, she tries to enchant him again. But in a flash, Cinderella deliberately spills porridge on her, steals the amulet, drives the Stepsisters from the kitchen, then fantasizes about turning the tables on her tormenters (Some Sweet Day).

As the Venetians continue preparations for the ball (Can You Believe It?), Cinderella reveals to her father that she may be in love with a masked stranger she met in the square (Love, Love, Love, Love). Paolo prepares to depart for Padua where he hopes to salvage some of his fortune. The Stepsisters renew their taunting (Showoff (Reprise)), leaving Cinderella in despair, but this time, Paolo witnesses the torment, and separately, he and Cinderella lament what has happened to their lives (Bells / Mi Dispiace).

In a fury, Pulchitruda threatens Cinderella: find the "lost" amulet or miss the great ball. Cinderella ponders her dilemma; she can return the amulet and thus hurt her father, or keep it and protect him (The Amulet). Lovingly, she chooses to help her father and hides the amulet. When the others leave for the ball and Paolo has failed to return with a gown for her, a disappointed Cinderella remains behind. Riding fog, La Stella arrives, and with her magic wooden spoon, promises to give Cinderella's tormenters a taste of their own medicine (Don't Mess With La Stella). From the basket of dirty laundry, she conjures a beautiful ball gown, and from the fireplace, mysterious crystal shoes which can help find love. But they can also steal love and turn a heart to hard, unfeeling glass if the wearer has not found her love by midnight. With a warning (Be Back by Midnight / To the Ball), she sends Cinderella to the ball in an enchanted gondola.

At the masquerade ball, the Prince and Cinderella meet and dance, unaware they have met before and that they actually seek one another. Il Compari and La Stella do recognize each other, and as they dance, realize they are in love (Compliments). Cinderella and the Prince, meanwhile, are also attracted to each other (No One Ever Told Me), but midnight arrives, and as the great clock tower tolls the hour, Cinderella flees, leaving behind one of the crystal shoes.

For two days without success, the Prince and Il Compari search the city for whoever fits the shoe. Without recognizing it, they arrive at the little square where they first saw Cinderella. The Children playing there spot the Prince and interrupt the search to say how much they admire him and his life, but he cautions them about being fooled by surface appearances (The Prince). Il Compari tries out his erratically magic sword, and again in the distance, Cinderella is heard singing. The Children point out the source of the voice, and the Prince hurries away to find the woman he loves.

The Stepsisters insist they both lost the shoe, but cannot squeeze into it. As Paolo finally arrives home, Cinderella tries the shoe, and of course, it fits, so the Prince asks her to be his bride. She seeks her father's approval, but Paolo tells her to hear her own heart. As Cinderella realizes the Prince and the masked stranger she loves are one and the same person, she agrees.

Paolo gives her the gown he brought back, too late for the ball, but perhaps it can be her wedding gown. She, in turn, retrieves the magic amulet from its hiding place in the hearth, and gives it to her father, hoping it will help him find love again. As Cinderella goes off to plan the wedding, Pulchitruda decides she and her daughters cannot live without riches, so they leave. But La Stella is not through with them. When they try to board a gondola, she waves her magic wooden spoon, and they plunge into the canal instead to the great delight of the Venetians.

In the air, music is heard, which Paolo tells the Children is really the sound of happiness, and while the setting transforms, the wedding procession begins. As the play ends, bride and groom appear and pledge themselves and their love to each other (You Are My Love / No One Ever Told Me (Reprise)), and the Venetians celebrate (Cinderella (Finale)).

Song List

Buon Giorno
The Tale of Cinderella
Hear Us
Cinderella
Poor, Poor, Poor
In the Air
These Graceful Hands
Stepmother Casts a Spell
Showoff
Have Faith
Make Magic
Demons and Devils and Witches
Peliculo
Unmarried Women
Out of the Ashes
Bring My Porridge
Some Sweet Day
Can You Believe It?
Love, Love, Love, Love
Bells
Mi dispiace
The Amulet
Don't Mess With La Stella
Be Back By Midnight
To the Ball
Compliments
No One Ever Told Me
The Prince
You Are My Love

Info

Original Cast included: Lorraine Serabian, Gary Aldrich, Joel Aroeste, Sara Biggs, David Bunce, Michele Golden, Peter Kutchukian, John T. McGuire, Erika Johnson Newell, Margaret Robinson, John Romeo, Laura Roth, Samuel Smith, Georgina Spelvin, Michael Steese, Sean Frank Sullivan, Christianne Tisdale, Catherine Wronowski

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