Boston Conservatory at Berklee presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, directed by Laura Marie Duncan with musical director David Pepin.
Program InformationWelcome Note
Boston Conservatory at Berklee presents Cinderella (Broadway version) by Douglas Carter Beane, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Richard Rodgers, licensed by Concord Theatricals.
Dramaturgy Note
In a 2013 interview, Broadway producer Robyn Goodman explained the rationale behind reviving Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1957 musical telecast Cinderella for Broadway, with a new book by Douglas Carter Beane, “[Now,] Cinderella can have a purpose and rescue the prince as much as he rescues her.”
Our concert production embraces this feminist reinterpretation introduced in the new version while honoring the beauty of the original score. But under the direction of Laura Marie Duncan, the show extends beyond modernizing a canonical musical or advancing a political agenda. Rather, it is a reflection on the complexity of identity, intimacy, and the courage it takes to be ourselves.
Ella is no longer a passive figure needing rescuing by a hero to make her princess dreams come true. Despite coming from vastly different worlds, she and Topher are multidimensional human beings, equally adept at performing idealized versions of themselves to gain love and acceptance. Their insecurities and emotional isolation prevent them from forming genuine connections with other human beings. Only by shedding these self-imposed illusions can they achieve real emotional intimacy.
Duncan has taken this theme of deconstructing fantasy a step further. Instead of witnessing Cinderella’s traditional transformation, including a glamor glow-up thanks to magic and fairy dust, we are invited into a different kind of wonder. Our story is told from the realm of childhood imagination, reconstructing the playrooms of our youth: a world of piled-up furniture, old toys and games, and fragments of family memory. This is a world seemingly ordinary, hopelessly cluttered—but it’s here where the magic emerges, not from spectacle but from our capacity to believe in something greater than our reality. It is in this connection to play that we have the space to critique and cast off the artificiality of our performed selves.
This production asks: What if the magic of Cinderella lies not in the glass slippers or the pumpkin carriage but in the difficult, beautiful act of revealing ourselves? Perhaps in the messy, imperfect, and playful spaces, we can reclaim our truest selves by imagining beyond the social roles we’ve been taught to play.
Dr. Helen Lewis-Michelson
Associate Professor of Theater
Cast
ELLA – Payton Hines
TOPHER – Evan Owen
MARIE – Rachel Thompson
JEAN MICHEL – Maxwell Tate
GABRIELLE – Liana Bartolome
CHARLOTTE – Jersie Joniak
MADAME – Brenna Sincaglia
LORD PINKLETON – Gilbert Dabady
SEBASTIAN – Danny Hernandez
ENSEMBLE:
Elaina Trousdale (u/s Ella)
Addyson Mackay (u/s Charlotte)
Emery Cunningham (u/s Marie/Godmother)
Chloe Pugh (u/s Gabrielle)
Nicole Jones (u/s Madame)
Dante X. Johnson (u/s Lord Pinkleton)
Maddox Bane (u/s Topher)
Scotty Atienza (u/s Jean-Michel)
Anthony Morgante (u/s Sebastian)
Elie Lauter
Alyssa Van Landingham
Mia Hustad
Dey Chante
Sofia Elisa
Olivia Corliss
Noah Colvin
Colin SanGiacomo
Chris Moody
Jackson Smith
Jordan Millet
SWINGS:
Kennedy Chang
Eli Doell
Orchestra
MUSIC DIRECTOR/CONDUCTOR
David Pepin
ASSOCIATE MUSIC DIRECTOR/KEYBOARD
Cooper Sheehy
PICCOLO/FLUTE/ALTO FLUTE
Teo Mondiru
OBOE/ENGLISH HORN
Isabella Guevarra
B-FLAT CLARINET/E-FLAT CLARINET/BASS CLARINET
Julia Spretty
BASSOON/FLUTE/B-FLAT CLARINET
Matt Gaudio
FRENCH HORN
Drew Lingenfelter
Holly Fullerton
TRUMPET
Elliot Wlasiuk
Emily Dillon
TROMBONE
Collin Hawkinson
PERCUSSION
Jack Tarpley
DRUMS
Penghe Liu
HARP
Yinong Zhang
VIOLIN 1
Tony Li
Mia Widner
VIOLIN 2
Serene Sung
Ha-Min Lee
VIOLA
Julian Bernal
CELLO
Nadia Brooks
BASS
Henry Jamison
Production Credits
CREATIVE TEAM:
Director – Laura Marie Duncan
Music Director – David Pepin
Associate Music Director – Cooper Sheehy
Assistant Director – Catie Jamieson
Co-choreographer – Nate Scullion
Scenic Designer – Christina Todesco
Costume Designer – Chelsea Kerl
Lighting Designer – Christopher Ostrom
Sound Designer – James Cannon
Dance Choreographer – Krisha Marcano
Dramaturgical Consultant – Helen Lewis-Michelson
THEATER DIVISION LEADERSHIP:
Krisha Marcano, Dean of Theater
Isaac Leaverton, Interim Chair of Theater
Bridgette Hayes, Assistant Chair of Theater
PRODUCTION STAFF:
Director of Performance Services and Producer – Hanna Oravec
Assistant Director of Production – Becca Donald
Stage Manager – Cameron Sarchi
Assistant Stage Manager – Zachary Sayre
Technical Director – Taylor Kaufman
Assistant Technical Director – Caleb D. Harris
Costume Shop Manager – Alison Pugh
Assistant Costume Shop Manager – Leah Foley
Wardrobe Manager – Blue Barber
Wardrobe Assistant – Ana Delgado
Costume Stock Manager/Draper/Stitcher – Kathy Scott
Draper/Stitcher – Sam Martin, Evan Petrow
Costume Production Assistant – Jackie Olivia
Costume Shop Intern – Leon Grossman
Properties Manager – Hannah Spangler
Audio Engineer/A1 – Maddy Poston
Audio Assistant/A2 – Kait Kelly
Lighting Supervisor – Jacob Inman
Production Technicians – Hannah Jope, Nick LaRosa, Mac Weaver, Han Taub, Addie Pates
TPP Professor – Cassie Seinuk
STUDENT PRODUCTION STAFF:
Student Assistant Stage Managers – Olivia Reitz, Miriam Stone
Production Assistants – Judah Woomer, Milo Darlington, Naman Kasana, Neil Martin, Valeria Caicedo, Matt Logos, Victoria McDougall
Costume Assistants – Elizabeth Hillman, Aine Lindsay, Clara Palmadottir, Ellie Sawyer
CONCERT SERVICES STAFF:
Assistant Director, Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Performance Technology Specialist – Andrei Radu
Special Thanks
Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Physical Plant Staff
Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 4,200 sheets of paper, 449 gallons of water, and 377 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
