First off, a huge congratulations to the cast, crew, and pit of Cinderella! The show was absolutely phenomenal, and the team handled everything that life threw at them in stride. Anything from breaking props to random viruses sweeping the school came up, and the show still went on! A special congratulations to Mr. Yeh for raising the most money for the theatre department, earning him a role as one of the valiant nights.

Another thank you and well done to Jared Winters who filled in for Twain Slayter as Jean Michel on Saturday, and did a fantastic job at it.

When asked, it was revealed that he did not know about his role change until five minutes before curtain at 2 pm Saturday show. He describes the feeling as, “a mix of excitement and dread, it never feels good to go unprepared, but in the end, it’s good for you.” Jared also had a little bit of unintended wisdom for all of us. “You come across challenges like this and it’s easy to be scared and you might fail, but it’s good to be a little scared, it makes you better.”

The rest of the cast had nothing but good things to say about Jared’s performance. Meghan Lawson has some good things to say about his surprise role, “Jared did amazing under unforeseen circumstances, and we are all very proud and thankful for him stepping up.”

Ben Hayes-Lemmon (12) who played the villain Sebastian said that “the show went really well overall, but we weren’t sure that we could get it together in time, but in the end, we pulled through.” On Ben’s performance, Miles Medina said, “Ben did phenomenally, and pulled it all together really well. He’s pretty good with his vocal cords too.”

As well as the play went, it was hard to believe that there were any parts that did not go well. However, from interviewing the actors, there are definitely favorite parts. Meghan Lawson said that her favorite part of the show was either the waltzing or singing the song, Impossible With Ellie Myers as Marie.

Also congratulations to Josh Cheek as Topher, Elizabeth Gumper as Charlotte, Natalie Rieck as Gabriel, Maile Sufak as Madame, Twain Slayter as the incredible Jean Michel, Riley Lippincot who played Lord Pinkleton, as well as all of the supporting cast members.

Aidan Janney, 9, said that “the singing was all really great and the choreography was good and the executions showed that a lot of work went into the show.”

Of course, nothing like this happens without the numerous people working behind the scenes (and I mean that quite literally) like the two amazing stage managers, Tyler Barnett Peterson and Olivia Gillum. Also a shoutout to assistant stage managers Tecara Moyer and sean Knight, shop foreman Dylan Turner and Ethan Ocken, light designer Justin Tasca, prop head Erika Rucker, publicity manager Travis, costume designer Naomi Nelson, light designer Justin Tasca, sound designer Ferryn Reuhl, set designer Alexis Rehorst, makeup designer Caitlyn Tilton, costume crew Brooklynn Cassens, prop crew Christen Mayberry, and all of the build crew.

The cast also gives many special thanks to the following people. Ms. Ambroz, Ms. Barnett, Mr. Hodur, as well as to all their friends and family who supported them throughout this endeavor.