In the photo above, Mike Ruff (as Prince Topher) and Claire Connors (as Ella) rehearse a scene for HF-L’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella which is this weekend. In the photo below, Claire Connors (as Ella on the left) and Maeve Connors (as the Fairy Godmother on the right) are shown during a rehearsal earlier this week. Both photos by Tricia Connors
From being student directors of the show to portraying characters in the show to designing and building a puppet for the show while also being a member of the cast, students in Honeoye Falls-Lima’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella each have been on a journey in bringing this production to audiences. For each student in the cast or crew, there have been challenges and things they have found to be fun and exciting. The Sentinel interviewed seven students to learn about their experience, what their challenges have been, what they have liked and what they hope audience members will take away from seeing the show.
Ava Youngblut plays Charlotte, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. Youngblut played Rosie in Mamma Mia! as a sophomore and was one of the Fates in last year’s Hadestown.
“The role of Rosie in Mamma Mia! is similar to Charlotte because you have to act sort of clueless,” Youngblut said. “What’s been a challenge has been ‘being mean’ to my friend Claire who is playing Ella. The three roles present such a wide range of acting techniques. The most fun has been being able to spend a lot of time with the whole ensemble. My favorite number is Stepsisters’ Lament.”
Youngblut, like many of the students involved in the show, are balancing 
their academic work with being in the show and also involved in other clubs or sports in school. Youngblut, who played tennis in the fall, is now in practices with the girls track and field team along with being in the show.
“It’s all about balancing my time and picking my priorities,” she said. “When the musical amps up, I take advantage of my study halls. But, I also remember to just enjoy the little things.”
Claire Connors has the role of Cinderella or Ella as she is called in the show. In this 2013 updated libretto of the show, this Cinderella is not just the classic Cinderella of the Disney animated film or the original 1957 R&H television musical or the 1965 TV version.
“Ella is a little different than the classic Cinderella,” Connors said. “She has a little bit of sass to her. She knows what she wants and she wants to stand up for herself but she is also still kind-hearted, gentle and naïve and loves to help others. In the show, her character arc is really awesome to see. I think that this show, this interpretation, is super cool to be doing. I really love how this show has the classic aspects of the Cinderella that everyone knows and loves and the new aspects that I have discovered stepping into this role. In the second half in particular, we see Cinderella stand up not only for what she wants but helps her friends stand up for what they want and I think that is so inspiring to be a leader and using the connections that you have to make the world a better place.”
Connors said she has loved being in the theatre productions during her four years of high school and has learned something from every character she has portrayed in each production.
“I think theatre in general is so inspiring,” she said. “Every character that I’ve done I have learned something from and I thought I want to incorporate something from that character into my own life. I think theatre is not only fun but also educational, for your acting skills but also life skills.”
There are several scenes in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in which puppetry is involved. One of them is where Prince Topher fights off a giant to save the kingdom. Kai Ferraro, a senior, built the puppet giant.
“The director asked if I could build a giant, so I spent five weeks building the giant’s head and body out of cardboard, fabric and paint,” Ferraro said. “The biggest challenge was making the puppet in time for the show. Since it was a large project, I did not have as much leisure time as usual. I took the puppet home and brought it back to school and worked on it several hours a day. I made a few sketches, showed them to the director and he picked one he liked and I built it from there.”
In addition to designing and building the puppet giant, Ferraro is also a cast member and plays the town juggler. Ferraro has been a juggler for about three or four years and it has been fun for him to incorporate that hobby into the show.
“It’s been fun to have a character that is so integrated with my own personality,” he said. “As someone who enjoys the circus, creating and building things and making art, I felt really involved in this show in a way I have not felt before.”
Maeve Connors plays Marie/The Fairy Godmother, a role she describes as iconic because she starts as an old lady who is very poor and similar to Ella but when Ella needs her most, she transforms into the Fairy Godmother to help make Ella’s dreams come true.
“I came out for the role because I thought it would be an interesting role to be able to develop because she has two sides,” Connors said. “It’s been fun to play with that alter-ego mentality and also I just love all of Fairy Godmother’s songs. They are so much fun to sing and there are so many choices you can make with the songs and I’ve had a really fun time deciding how I want to play it.”
This show marks the second time that Maeve has portrayed a character opposite her sister Claire as the two played sisters in last fall’s drama show production of Arsenic and Old Lace. She said it has been nice to bring the chemistry that they have offstage onto the stage although the dynamic between the character of Ella and the character of the Fairy Godmother is something that they have never had before, sort of a mother-daughter feeling. Maeve also has enjoyed the newer aspects of this show as her character helps Ella to open the eyes of the Prince to what is going on in his kingdom.
“It’s been fun to read into that more as rehearsals have gone on,” she said. “Especially in the beginning, I was not familiar with the new version, so being able to see all the new aspects that come into it and all of the new messages that are so relevant, I think, to today’s world that are now in this version. I love being able to send those messages to our whole audience.”
Megan Parrish and Casey Briggs are two of the three student directors for the show. Parrish was on stage crew and publicity crew as a sophomore but always knew she wanted to be a student director and last year was able to be the assistant student director for Hadestown. It was an incredible experience and when she was asked to be a student director this year, her answer was an immediate yes.
“As student directors, we do everything from t-shirt orders to kind of running rehearsals as far as reading lines, giving notes to students who need it and helping the director out when we’re needed. We’re also backstage during rehearsals and then shows so we call places and make sure everything runs smoothly,” Parrish said.
Briggs has been involved with six shows on the stage crew; this is her first year as a student director. As a senior, she decided she wanted to take on more of a leadership role and thought this would be a good fit. The biggest challenge for her has been the additional responsibilities that come with being one of the student directors.
“It’s been a change because stage crew usually comes in the last few weeks before performances,” Briggs said. “Stage crew is hidden backstage doing props and this is so much more involved. I’m doing a lot more work outside rehearsals like making posters on rules for safety backstage. It’s so much more responsibility.”
Mike Ruff will be in his fourth musical at HF-L, having been one of the gamblers in Guys and Dolls as a freshman, taking on the role of Skye in Mamma Mia! as a sophomore and then last year portraying Hermes in Hadestown as a junior. This year, he plays Prince Topher.
“I see parts of myself in Topher,” Ruff said. “With this updated version, there is more depth to the character. When I first heard it would be Cinderella, I was not very familiar with the Rodgers and Hammerstein version so I was excited to see and listen to all of the added story that they have added to the Prince and the journey that he really goes on alongside Ella where they’re both learning to believe in themselves and speak up for themselves. So that has been the fun part and I’m glad that they added all that juice to the character.”
Coming off the role of Hermes last year, the character of Prince Topher is almost a 180 degree turn.
“It’s definitely been a bit of a challenge sort of going from such an extravagant character (as Hermes) that is really pushing the story along to sort of, more of like a classic protagonist which is honestly a role that I don’t have much experience in. I’m usually either a comedic relief character or out there and extroverted,” Ruff said. “It’s been fun to sort of play a role that’s more similar to myself really, that is more introverted and thoughtful. Definitely a bit of a challenge, but there are some hidden similarities between Topher and Hermes that have been fun to explore.”
