A little girl’s dream of growing up to be a princess came true for senior Jasmine Webber who was casted to play the role of Cinderella in the high school winter musical.
“I can’t wait for the audience to experience the marvelous and magical moments we have been working so hard to create,” Webber said.
Her dream will officially come true on opening night of the musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Feb. 11, and will continue through the show on Feb. 14.
A lot of time and after-school practices goes into the productions put on by Pattonville students. The students involved in them have been working for several months learning, memorizing and perfecting their lines.
Senior Tyler Balk doesn’t just memorize and re-read his lines, however. He thinks about each of the actions and things his character says. Balk said he is excited to be playing the role of the King.
“He is slightly obese and guides the prince to be the man that he is and pushes him to believe the same things he does,” Balk said.
The long nights of working on the musical doesn’t stop with just the students seen on the stage, about 15 students have been designing, painting and forming the props and stage scenes needed for the musical.
“We started by meeting two days a week and then it progressed,” Emily Ta said, who signed up for props, set construction and stage crew this year. “Since the musical is now a week away, we meet every day.”
All of the students who have been working with Ta and the rest of the stage crew have been mainly working on creating Cinderella’s palace and home.
When hearing the name Cinderella, many may think of the Disney princess version, however, the show is different than that of Disney’s movie.
“The characters are very different than the Disney version,” assistant state manager Abigail Schnable said. “The step-sisters are not as shallow and we have a king and queen. We also have townspeople and other characters making more roles in the musical.”
The King and Queen are not the only characters that are different in the musical version.
“There are also no mice,” Will Pirrie said. “So that’s kind of lame.”
Pirrie is looking forward to opening night because of all of the excitement and the fans that will come to support the show.
Samantha Yancey is looking forward to something different.
“I want people to come to the show because I feel like people are forgetting what true music and acting comes from,” Yancey said. “Everyone in the musical has worked so hard and has such a kind and hardworking heart.”
Ms. Lara Corvera, the cast, and crew urge the school and community to come to the show and hope those who attend consider coming the Saturday or Sunday shows, opposed to the Thursday and Friday shows, as they will be less crowded.
Cinderella will be performed in the high school auditorium on Feb. 11-13 at 7 p.m. and on Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults.
