Since the retirement of Greg Holtschneider, Marshfield’s previous drama teacher, Valerie Stockton, the new drama teacher, took over the fall and spring plays. For her first play, Stockton chose to do Marshfield’s version of the classic romance, Cinderella. The story follows Reagan Inman as Cinderella, a girl who serves as a servant for her evil stepmother, (Rossianna Reid), and her stepsisters, (Reagyn Frazier and Alyssa Spencer). Cinderella falls in love with Prince Christopher, (Ian Thompson), and with the help of her fairy godmother, (Shayla Smith), gets him to fall in love with her too. Cinderella gets the Prince to fix his country and help his people at the end. 

What first struck me when I went to see the play was the amazing vocal performances. In Christopher’s song “Me, Who am I”, the combination of Thompson’s lead and Luke Rockwood, Liam Bergthold, Aaron Coleman and Alton Smith’s background vocals made this one of my top songs in the entire play. I also felt like “Stepsister’s Lament” was another fantastic song, sung by Reagyn Frazier with members of the ensemble. “Stepsisters Lament” was about the rest of the girls attending the ball, jealous that Prince Christopher fell for Cinderella and not with them. 

Other than the vocal performances, the costumes were stunning. Before the ball Cinderella needs a dress to wear in order to attend, and her fairy godmother practically materializes one out of thin air on the stage before us. Reagan Inman wore a plain brown dress, and when she pulled it off a new blue dress appeared, and the brown dress fell to her ankles under the dress. This all happened so quickly and seamlessly that I can barely even explain how it was done, it looked like special effects in real time. 

The first backdrop was by far my favorite set piece in the show. It was a painting that covered the entirety of the area behind the stage of the kingdom in the distance behind Cinderella’s house. The trees in the distance were incredibly detailed and it really helped me put myself in the setting and really feel like I was in the kingdom. I can only think about how much paint and effort it took to make such a beautiful painting that big within three months.

Overall, I really enjoyed the play and was pleasantly surprised by every factor of it. I never lost interest in the play, and found myself waiting in anticipation during intermission. The actors were all perfectly chosen for their roles, and you can tell they all cared a lot and put in so much effort into their singing, dancing and acting. I think everyone involved should be proud of themselves, because throwing together a play in three months is quite the feat.