Cinderella - Lighting & Sound America

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April 2013

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Cinderella:Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic

comes to Broadway

Copyright Lighting&Sound America April 2013 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

64 • April 2013 • Lighting&Sound America

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Rodgers andHammerstein’sCinderellacreates magic on BroadwayBy: David Barbour

CtorybookSlassic

Copyright Lighting&Sound America April 2013 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

onceived as a one-off livetelevision broadcast in1957, Rodgers and

Hammerstein’s Cinderellahas made it to Broadway

after a mere 56 years. There havebeen many stops along the way—new versions for television in 1965and 1997 and revisions (by differentwriters) for the stage in 1993, 2001,and 2008—all of which paid tribute tothe property’s durability. Finally—given the score’s quality and theburgeoning market in shows aimed attweener girls—it was decided that thetime had come for a definitiveBroadway Cinderella.

Over the decades, the onlyunchanging aspects of Cinderellawere its core of musical numberswritten for the original broadcast andits general scenario, based on what isarguably the world’s most famousfairy tale. The 1957 show, with ayoung Julie Andrews in the title role,featured a libretto by OscarHammerstein II in addition to songsby him and Richard Rodgers. In 1965,after Hammerstein’s death, Rodgers,reportedly feeling that the originalscript was too jokey, brought inJoseph Schrank for a rewrite. Justabout every new production sincehas featured another adaptation.

The Cinderella now playing at theBroadway Theatre features a book,by Douglas Carter Beane, that retoolsthe fairy tale for modern sensibilities.In this version, Cinderella is hardly apassive ingenue waiting for the daywhen her prince will come, nor is theprince a cardboard hero with asquare jaw and stentorian voice.Instead, Cinderella is the intellectuallycurious child of an abusivehousehold—Madame, herstepmother, freely admits she marriedCinderella’s late father for money—and the prince, named Topher, isinsecure in his royal role, leaving himsubject to the manipulations ofSebastian, his amiably corrupt primeminister. (The prince is also an

orphan.) There’s also a touch ofrevolution brewing in the kingdom,with the leading dissenter, Jean-Michel, raising alarms about thewidening gulf between the haves andhave-nots. Cinderella’s stepsisters,united in their greed and disdain inother versions, are not a matched set;one of them, Gabrielle, is really rathersweet, if cowed by Madame, and shecarries a torch for Jean-Michel. (Thisapproach allows for Ann Harada, as

Charlotte, the other sister, to stop theshow with “Stepsister’s Lament,” inwhich she complains amusingly abouther inability to get to first base withPrince Topher.)

Because the original Cinderella ranonly 76 minutes (plus commercials),the Broadway production has beenfleshed out with other, lesser-knownRodgers and Hammerstein songs.Prince Topher’s existential dilemma islaid out in “Me, Who Am I?”, whichwas cut from the rarely seenbackstage musical Me and Juliet.

Jean-Michel rouses his followers with“Now is the Time,” cut from SouthPacific, as was “Loneliness ofEvening,” a solo for Cinderella.“There’s Music in You,” written for the1953 film Main Street to Broadway, ishere given to Marie, Cinderella’s fairygodmother.

Nevertheless, under MarkBrokaw’s direction and with lively,inventive choreography by JoshRhodes, this Cinderella preserves the

classic values of both CharlesPerrault’s original story and ofBroadway during its book musicalheyday. High technology and showbusiness glitz have been forgone infavor of classic staging techniques.(The most gasp-inducing momentsare the astonishing costume transfor-mations, all of them staged a vista,engineered by designer William IveyLong.) Instead, the impulse was tocreate a complete, coherent fairy-taleworld that draws the audience intoits embrace.

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Laura Osnes, opposite, and above with the female ensemble in “The Prince is Giving a Ball.”

Into the woodsThe tone of Cinderella is set byAnna Louizos’ scenic design.Interestingly, she didn’t draw on anywell-known illustrators fromchildren’s literature. “Mark [Brokaw]

wanted it to always be grounded inthe world of the forest,” Louizossays. “He had a number of imagesthat supported this idea: Oneshowed a forest with chandeliershanging in it and another with an

elegantly dressed woman in aforest. He also loved the colors inBrueghel’s paintings—you can seethat influence in the village sceneand also in William’s costumes.Also, he didn’t want any blackouts;instead, he wanted the scenes toflow from one to another. I think thetrees helped us in that regard.”

In fact, forest imagery is prevalentthroughout Cinderella. The showcurtain is a set of trees placeddownstage, which slide open to showthe forest where Topher sings “Me,Who Am I?” while slaying a giant (anactor on stilts) and a dragon (createdusing sound and lighting effects).There are four sets of traveling trees,plus forest portals, that inform thelook of virtually every scene in theshow. When the action moves to thepalace, Louizos added four half-arches that move around the stageand form various configurations; eventhough they are elegantly sculptedpieces of architecture, they areanchored by trees. Similarly, trees are

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The half-timbered look of Cinderella’s cottage gives it a suitably rustic feel, making it seem like an organic part of the forest.

A forest motif is used throughout the show, beginning with the show curtain, seen inmodel form above.

used to frame the interior ofCinderella’s cottage.

There’s a practical reason for theforest motif. “We didn’t know for quitea while which theatre we’d get, andwhen we knew it was going to be theBroadway”—which seats 1,761—“wehad the challenge of a very largehouse,” Louizos says. “When you arein the auditorium, it sometimes feelsvery far from the stage; we wereconcerned that we might lose theintimacy of the story if we didn’t finda way to draw people into the setting.At the same time, we needed plentyof room for dancing, especially in theballroom with the big dresses thatWilliam designed. And Mark’s sensi-bility is somewhat minimalist; he likesto see only a few pieces on stage.”

Louizos says her initial strategy wasto design a dimensional prosceniumthat would be built out into theauditorium, framing the action withtrees and vines. This was ultimatelydeemed too expensive; instead, sheemployed a variety of moving pieces,assembling them to create locationsthat would push the action downstage,creating a feeling of intimacy for thelonger book scenes. When the timecomes for the big choreographednumbers, it is relatively easy to clearthe stage.

In the opening sequence, the treesrearrange themselves to make variousforest locations as Topher performshis heroic feats. The yard outsideCinderella’s cottage includes theexterior of that building, a pair of trees(out of which appear puppets of a foxand raccoon, Cinderella’s forestfriends), a stone well, a harvestwagon, and a low upstage wall withpumpkins on it; we also see thewagon pulled by Cinderella andattended to by Marie, the localmadwoman. The half-timbered look ofthe cottage gives it a suitably rusticfeel, making it seem like an organicpart of the forest. There is also a littlenook in front of the house whereCinderella sings “In My Own LittleCorner,” in which she dreams of living

a more exciting life.For the transition to the cottage

interior, the cottage revolves tobecome the fireplace, a door unitcomes onstage from stage left, anupstage wall rolls on, and a roof fliesin. The interior is furnished in whatlooks like the French Provincial style,with an elegantly carved dining tableand chairs, a fortepiano, and a chinacabinet with many pieces ondisplay—all of them signs ofMadame’s pretensions to graciousliving and all of them in conflict withthe cottage’s essentially rustic nature.Even so, the forest motif continues;you can see vines overlaid on thepainted walls. It’s as if the forest isquietly taking over the artifice ofMadame’s home. To facilitateintimacy, “the house interior isbasically an all-in-one scene,”Louizos says. The town square,where Jean-Michel’s call to arms isdrowned out by announcements thatPrince Topher is throwing a ball,consists of two half-timberedbuildings and a few pushcarts.

Magic appears during the big first-act transformation scene in which

Marie turns a pumpkin into a coachwith horses. This occurs in front ofCinderella’s cottage; behind theupstage wall, a pumpkin appears togrow and bursts open revealing thecarriage, a dazzling structure, that,Louizos says, is “made of steel andhand-sculpted shapes that were builtby [the Cornwall, New York-basedscenic specialist firm] CostumeArmour. The horses are hand-carvedalso, with vine-shaped body parts”—there’s that forest motif again—“thatare attached to the structure’s frame;their mechanics are attached to apedal that makes the horses’ legsmove.” The horses are also coveredwith more than 1,000 points of fiber-optic lighting.

In contrast, the palace scenes aredefined by a select number of large-scale scenic elements suggesting amarble interior. “The staircase was achallenge because Mark doesn’t likesymmetrical stage pictures,” Louizossays. “It travels on a curved track andpivots to meet the upstage balustradeplatform, with a telescoping landingthat bridges the gap. It’s a big piece ofscenery to bring on stage a vista; JoshP

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The interior of Cinderella’s cottage shows Madame’s flair for the French Provincial style.

[Rhodes] did a great job with swirlingdances downstage as the piecescome together.” Because theBroadway Theatre was originally a

movie house, space is at a premium,and storing scenery in the wings wasan impractical idea. Thus, adds thedesigner, “The balustrade travels in

segments that are hinged; as theymove offstage on a curved track, theydouble back,” folding into place liketrain cars. Also, “the four half archescan revolve and travel independentlyto make different configurations.”

Of course, no Cinderella iscomplete without a clock to tickdown the minutes to midnight, andLouizos has designed a beautifulwrought-iron clock face that appearsat upstage center. And when the timecomes for the couples at the danceto take part in a romantic waltz to themusic of the ballad “Ten MinutesAgo,” three chandeliers and a stardrop plus a deep blue wash by thelighting designer Kenneth Posner, areenlisted to create the right mood.

For the final scene, the wedding ofCinderella and Topher, the staircasemoves to center stage, and thebalustrade hinges open to allow thehappy couple to make their entrance.The scenery, except for those pieces


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Above and below: Cinderella’s carriage. The horses are hand-carved, with vine-shaped body parts attached to the structure’s frameand mechanics attached to a pedal that makes their legs move. The horses feature more than 1,000 points of fiber-optic lighting.


by Costume Armour, was built byHudson Scenic Studio, of Yonkers,New York and ShowMotion, ofMilford, Connecticut, with automationby Hudson. Rose Brand supplied thesoft goods, including some Ink BlueCrescent velour drapes, a scrim, andthe clock face, which was digitallyprinted on RP screen material. Propsare by Jerard Studio, Prop n Spoon,and BrenBri Properties.

Louizos notes that, with so muchscenery in motion, the over-the-stagearea is particularly crowded; at thesame time, room had to be made forthe flying system, from Flying by Foy,which is used to make the trans-formed Marie soar over the stage.The designer adds that all of Marie’sflying takes place on one track, whichmade it relatively easy to clear a pathfor her travel.

Again, says Louizos, “It needed tofeel real,” and indeed the most signif-icant achievement of her design is

that she creates a fantasy world thatis both magical and of this earth.

Moonlight at midnightAsked why he chose to design thelighting for Cinderella, KennethPosner says simply, “How often doyou get the chance to do a Rodgersand Hammerstein musical onBroadway?” Like Louizos, he seesCinderella as having “the feel of avintage show but with modernpanache. The conceit was to rely onold-school stagecraft.” As a result, hesays, his goal was “to reveal every-thing as elegantly as we could.” It’s acase of mission accomplished:Posner’s lighting is seeminglyinvisible—you will look in vain forelaborate cues or eye-grabbingeffects—and yet everything on stageseems to glow with an incandescentlight of its own.

Like Louizos, Posner says hisbiggest challenge was, “How do you

make this story feel intimate in aBroadway house of this scale? Howdo you focus on those two characters[Cinderella and Topher] and tell theirstory?” One key to this problem is theextremely delicate use of followspotsto pull the leads out of the stagepicture. This required the installationof a dedicated followspot catwalk.“I’m not the first person to do this inthe Broadway Theatre, but that’swhere I invested much of mybudget,” he says, adding that thenew position created a much steeperangle for the followspots, allowingthem to be worked into an overall on-stage look with extra finesse. Thereare three Lycian units on the catwalk.

The second biggest challengeinvolved the fact that Posner’s lightingdesign relies to an enormous degreeon sidelight, especially during theextended dance sequences and forestscenes. However, he notes, “There isbasically no wing space in the theatre;

Because of wing space issues, the palace’s balustrade is in segments that are hinged to double back as the piece moves offstage.

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when the scenery moves off, it has totelescope and move upstage.”Therefore, “the sidelight is carefullycued to let the ladders fly up anddown, accommodating the scenery.”

Adding to the lighting’s subtletywas Posner’s use of a limited colorpalette. “It is driven by William’scostumes. Early on, he took methrough the design,” which rangesfrom dirty, dingy grays and neutralsfor the peasants to pastels for theroyals. “All of my colors were pulledout of William’s palette.” Interestingly,the a-vista costume transformationsdesigned by Long—when mad Mariebecomes the fairy godmother andtwo separate instances of Cinderellagoing from rags to elegant ball gownsin a matter of seconds—are sobrilliantly done that Posner further

highlights them. “In each case, we gofrom a single followspot to a fulloverlay on Vicky or Laura to underlinethe transformation.”

Posner’s treatment of the costumescan be seen in the sequence thatbegins with “Ten Minutes Ago” andcontinues into “Waltz for a Ball.” As thecouples circle the floor, with the ladiesin their sumptuous gowns at timesliterally floating in the air, Posner’smeticulous sidelight gives extra shapeand dimension to the performers’silhouettes, combining with the musicand choreography to create a dream ofromance. His sidelight also adds agreat deal to “The Pursuit,” in whichthe prince and his men race throughthe forest, searching for Cinderella.Throughout the show, the designersays that he worked intensively to

“make the cueing as subtle and lyricalas possible.” Of course, he adds,Rodgers’ lilting music was anenormous help in this endeavor.

The designer’s plot mixes astandard package of conventionalunits with a mix of Philips Vari*LiteVL3500 Spots, VL2500 Washes, andMartin Professional MAC 2000Performance units, the latter of whichwere used on the sidelight ladders.Posner says he found them useful inthis position because “I could doshutter cuts with them.” Lighting iscontrolled by an ETC Eos,programmed by Timothy F. Rogers.

Cinderella underwent fairlyextensive changes during previews,losing 20 – 25 minutes and a coupleof numbers. However, Posner says hewas prepared to handle this. “When I

Four half-arches form various configurations; they are anchored by trees and include intricate ironwork reminiscent of vines.


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construct a show, it’s done in such away that one can delete segments ormove them around in a cuestructure.” He adds, laughing, “Theanxiety comes in when you’re doing it45 minutes before a performance.”

Still, it’s clear that he considers theentire experience to have been ahappy one. “We all wanted to celebrateBroadway musicals of the ‘50s and‘60s. I feel really fortunate to haveworked on it. Shows like this don’tcome along very often in one’s career.”

There’s music in youAlong with Louizos’ classic sceneryand Posner’s simple, yet sophisti-cated, lighting, Nevin Steinberg’ssound design has a pleasant trans-parency not often found in this age ofhigh technology. “In talking to Mark

Brokaw, it was interesting to learnthat we weren’t required to razzle-dazzle the audience” with the latesteffects, he says. “It’s a very elegantproduction, which, interestingly,doesn’t seem to disqualify us withyounger audiences.” (Far from it; fromits first full week of previews,Cinderella joined the elite club ofBroadway musicals earning morethan $1 million weekly.)

And once again, Steinberg facedthe same challenge as his colleagues:how to create a feeling of intimacy.“The Broadway is one of the biggerhouses, seat-count wise, and themezzanine area is particularly vast,”he says. “Just from the point of viewof geometry, that requires a lot ofattention. The question was how toget audio to all the seats in a plausible

way. That being said, because of allthe wall treatments that have been putin over the years, the room is acousti-cally very dry, which is a greatadvantage for an amplified score. It’sa bit tricky for a show with Rodgersand Hammerstein songs, however.”

One significant advantage,Steinberg adds, are the orchestra-tions by Danny Troob, with additionalcontributions by Bill Elliott, DougBesterman, and Larry Hochman. Inclassic Broadway fashion, they relyon underscoring by the strings duringthe vocal parts, with the brassiersounds reserved for the musicalbridges and dance numbers. “That’sthe key thing,” he says. “I can’t tellyou what a relief it was to hear thosecharts at the orchestra rehearsals.They don’t just make my job easier;

Posner’s use of sidelight subtly sculpts the performers in an extended waltz set to the music of the ballad “Ten Minutes Ago.”


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they make it possible.”Still, his loudspeaker layout

required considerable thought. “Theparadox of a show that wants tosound natural in a large space is thefact that you need to be very carefulabout where you amplify the soundor, put another way, how you amplifythe sound over the distance required.I’m not a huge fan of line arrays onthe proscenium, but for Cinderella Iput in two of them so I couldbasically shade the amplification fromthe back to the front of the house.”

These line arrays consist of L-Acoustics KIVA loudspeakers andKILO subs, all chosen for theircompact sizes. He says, “I’ve neverbeen quite happy with the sound ofbig line arrays up close, and I didn’twant something so overwhelming thatit would draw focus. At one point, thespeakers were going to be hiddenunder a dimensional prosceniumdesigned by Anna, but when thatwent away, all of the speakers wereexposed. It helps that they are someof the very smallest line arrayelements available.”

Located at the center of theproscenium is a split cluster of Kivaand Kilo boxes. “They’re focused tothe left and right for the main floor,”Steinberg says. “Also on the sametruss are two Kiva/Kilo lollipopclusters split left and right, for themezzanine.” In addition, he notes,“Because of the catwalk for thefollowspots, the path from theproscenium to the mezzanine is partlycut off, so I put d&b audiotechnik Q-Series boxes on a truss justdownstage of the lighting bridge.”Front fill is supplied by d&b E3s.Rounding out the rig are MeyerSound 600-HP subs and, for delay, a

combination of d&b E3s and E0s andL-Acoustics 108Ps. A surroundsystem consists of EAW JF60s. Moreof the EAW units are built into the setfor spot effects. Foldback is providedby JF60s and EAW UB12s.

It’s an eclectic lineup, but, asSteinberg says, “Different manufac-turers have different strengths.Sometimes, if you want your PA tohave the same character, you maywant to use the same manufactureracross the board. But I’m notconvinced that this is always an

effective approach. Even inside acompany, not all boxes sound alike.”

Given the extensive use of millineryin Long’s designs, aided by PaulHuntley’s elaborate wigs, micplacement was a bigger-than-usualchallenge. “Thanks to early conversa-tions with William and Paul, we wereable to negotiate all of these issuesearly in the process. Hats and masks[worn in the ball scene] were potentialproblems, not to mention thecostume transformations. We knew itwas coming and were able to discussit in advance. I can’t say enoughabout the collaboration with Williamand Paul and their staffs in solvingthese problems.”

The cast members are heard viaDPA 4061 capsules, aided bySennheiser MK5212 transmitters andem-3732 receivers. The orchestra ismiked with units from Audix, DPA,Shure, AKG, Neumann, with Radialand BSS direct boxes. Vocal andorchestra reverbs are managed by TCElectronic M3000 and TC 6000 units.

Sound is controlled by the DiGiCoD5T console. “We have a big castand a sizable orchestra,” Steinbergsays. “We’re running live with 28wireless lines on stage and over 50

inputs in the orchestra as well, pluseffects and playback.” Sound effects,including the clock’s toll at midnightand the dragon in the opening sceneare controlled by QLab.

Steinberg adds that getting “thefirst ten minutes right was prettyexciting. We spent a great deal oftime dialing in Topher’s battles withthe giant and the dragon. Early on inthe process, there were even morecreatures to bring to life. It was atremendous effort on everyone’s partto deliver something that was excitingand fun with sound and lighting.Except for the giant, the entiresequence is all about lighting andsound effects.” In any case, he adds,the mantra was “the constantadherence to creating something thatwas natural and comfortable, thatdrew the audience in.”

Additional production personnelinclude Hilary Noxon (associate scenicdesigner), John Viesta (associatelighting designer), Jason Crystal(associate sound designer), DonaldOberpriller (production carpenter),James Maloney (productionelectrician), Timothy F. Rogers (lightingprogrammer), Justin Rathburn(production sound engineer), JeffBrewer (head electrician), Scott Silvianand Bob Biemers (deck sound) JakeScudder (advance sound), Aimee B.Dombo (assistant scenic designer),Nick Solyom (assistant lightingdesigner), Emiliano Pares (productionproperties supervisor), PeterDrummond (head properties), EricCastaldo (assistant properties), andHyun Ju Kim (sound intern).

Cinderella posted robust grossesfrom its earliest performances. Andfor good reason: By creating anillusion of simplicity, the show’sdesigners are giving young audiencesan object lesson in the delights of theclassic Broadway musical style.

For a Cinderella bonus report, go towww.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSADigitalEdition.

“If you want your PA to have the same charac-ter, you may want to use the same manufactur-er across the board. But I’m not convinced thatthis is always an effective approach.” –Steinberg

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