Directors: Jill Girard, Keith Smith
Cast: Dominique Paccaut, Brendan Van Rhyn, Marco Golz, Peter Cornelius, Pieter Bosch Botha, Nobuntu Mpahlaza
Where: People's Theatre, Civic Centre
When: Until December 23
Cinderella needs absolutely no introduction, not even to the tiniest of tots, and there's half the theatre magic straight away.
All it needs is to be fleshed out a little and that, with the aid of a workable set, sumptuous costumes and above-average song and dance, this production manages to do.
Dominique Paccaut plays Cinderella with a gold wig that keeps falling in her eyes. Not even the pancake make-up and artificial girlish giggles can disguise the fact that she is far too old for the part.
Mind you, to be fair, I'm not the target market. (Question to target market: "Did you like Cinderella?" Answer: "Oh yes, she was beautiful!").
As Prince Charming Brendan Van Rhyn is, well, charming. Lovely deep voice, natural performance, attractive smile I don't know what he sees in Cinderella except that she can sing and dance when she isn't giggling. Their Heart Will Go On duet is one of the highlights.
Thank goodness for the Ugly Sisters. Marco Golz and Peter Cornelius, bedazzled with make-up, sweep over the stage in a finely choreographed performance that doesn't put a foot wrong.
They fall over themselves, each other, the bucket, the stool, Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother, upstairs, downstairs you name it, they fall over it.
Pieter Bosch Botha makes a regal king, a rather strange hairdresser and plays Cinderella's father with very mismatched fake face fungus. I kept expecting it to fall off. Surely it could be a little more convincing?
Nobuntu Mpahlaza thoroughly enjoys her role as the raucous queen, but needs to relax more as the Fairy Godmother. I expect it will happen during the run.
This is not as interactive as most People's Theatre productions. The children were asked to squeak like mice at times and there was the usual "She went that way", whether scripted or not.
Generally this is a low-key show, but I will give the final comment to the target market: "That was FUN!"