While I look forward to the holidays as much as anyone, it’s not the most stimulating time of year to be a theater critic. Many local theaters revive shows with profound appeal. They can sell lots of tickets that generate revenue for the rest of their seasons. But I’ve run out of ways to offer insights about another year of A Christmas Carol at the Playhouse or Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!) at Cincinnati Shakespeare. Such productions are holiday favorites, and I urge others to see them.
But I’m grateful for something new. Although it has stockpiled a collection of holiday fairytale musicals that get repeated periodically, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati this year provides some variety with Cinderella: After Ever After. Getting its world premiere there this month, it’s a brand-new sequel to the familiar story, which ETC treated in its spoofy version of Cinderella produced for last year’s holiday show. This one simply picks up the story as told the year before and carries it beyond the “happily every after” ending, with the same tone and characters and most of the same actors. It’s truly a sequel.
With a witty new script by local playwright Joe McDonough, plus lively, amusing and occasionally heartfelt lyrics by David Kisor and a musically varied score by Fitz Patton, After Ever After builds on its predecessor without simply repeating itself. The show’s opening moments do reiterate the familiar fairytale, plus a few reminders of last year’s version, since it veers from the tried and true: Cinderella and her prince are bookish introverts, and their story is contemporized with high-top sneakers replacing glass slippers.
After Ever After again features Brooke Steele as Cinderella, still sweetly charming, if a bit more thoughtful. She’s dismayed by all the fuss around an engagement party that everyone else insists on shaping to their own interests and desires. Patrick E. Phillips, new as Prince Frederick, brings a gangly awkwardness to the role, eager to please but not quick to object to the interference of others. That gives Cinderella second thoughts about whether getting hitched to him is the path she wants to follow.
Michael G. Bath returns as the King, funnier than ever. He’s introduced by grandiose fanfares whenever he comes onstage, even if he’s trying to be secretive. He’s annoyed by over-the-top expenditures prompted by Cinderella’s status-conscious, pushy stepmother Brunhilda, again played with animation by Deb G. Girdler. As she spins the King around in an undesired romantic tango, he mouths, “Help Me!” to the audience, one of countless hilarious moments.
Torie Wiggins and Sara Mackie return as Brunhilda’s vacuously daffy but competitive daughters, Clarissa and Priscilla. They are the very essence of empty-headed Valley Girls, made all the funnier when a magic spell goes awry and “inverts” them into seekers of intelligence. The perpetrator of that spell, Gwendolyn (Kate Wilford), is a not-too-competent “well-wisher,” a watered-down Fairy Godmother.
The misguided spell shows After Ever After’s characters the error of their ways, and paves the path to setting things straight once they see life from a different perspective and learn the virtue of “connecting your head to your heart.” As always, ETC’s holiday shows have a subtle lesson about being true to yourself.
What makes After Ever After especially enjoyable is that every aspect is executed with quality and commitment. The actors pour themselves into conveying the humor of their roles; Dee Anne Bryll’s clever choreography is danced with spirit and precision; the musical accompaniment (Scot Woolley is the musical director and Matt Callahan is the sound designer) is pre-recorded but beautifully and precisely delivered to support the action. The show is a visual pleasure to watch thanks to a simple but functional design by Brian c. Mehring, and Reba Senske’s riotously colored costumes make the production all the more entertaining.
After Ever After has been assembled by director D. Lynn Meyers, who brings the same level of professionalism to these shows that she does to the more serious dramas offered elsewhere in ETC’s season. It is onstage through Dec. 30.
CONTACT RICK PENDER: rpender@citybeat.com
This article appears in Dec 7-14, 2016.
