Cinderelly, Cinderelly! Night and Day it's Cinderelly!

My First Theatrical Project Offstage

In 2003, the local town theatre took on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella." I took on the backdrop. I started by researching lots of castles. When I came across Neuschwanstein Castle, in Germany, I fell in love, like so many others have. While it's still definitely recognizable to those who know their castles, I took some liberties. I changed the emblem and colors to match what was happening in the costumes.

We were going for a very literal story-book theme. The set plans included a large book shaped cutout surrounding the stage, and performances started with the cast frozen onstage as though part of an illustration. The fairy godmother entered and threw glitter across the stage, bringing us all to life. There were various moments throughout the show that tied back into the storybook theme. At the end of the show, the fairy godmother reappeared with her glitter, and we froze back into our illustration poses.

With all the storybook going on in the show, it was important to keep the backdrop just as animated and kid friendly as possible. I used highly saturated colors and simplified shapes: cotton candy clouds in pink and blue and yellow, triangular purple mountains, semicircular green hills, a chocolaty brown road weaving back to the castle, and bright red conical roofs all over the castle. We made sure to sponge blues and golds into all the parts of the backdrop we could, so that when the lights were amber (most of the time) it would glow with warm golden light, and when the lights were blue (the night sequences) it would seem to shimmer in shades of blue.

Being that we were performing in the local school's "gymatorium," I had the luxury of spreading the backdrop out on the gym floor to paint the castle. I worked on the backdrop over the course of a couple of weeks, mostly during the times I wasn't onstage during rehearsals. As performances neared, I drew in a few helpers. My mom did a lot of the sponge work, and a friend who was playing "Queen Charming(?)" helped with the mountains. In the final week or so, it was down to just the castle left to do, so I pulled a couple of late nights. I think I was there until 2 or 3 AM a couple of times, (I was a good kid in high school - 2 AM was late for me - see top photo.) In the end, I was quite tired but incredibly proud of the outcome.

Now, six years and five backdrops later, there are certainly things I would do differently, but it's still one of my favorites. Many's the time I've wished I could return to this full on fairytale land. And hey, considering it was my first backdrop, I'm still tremendously proud of it.