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Mary Burchill (’17) stand as Cinderella on stage during a rehearsal for the upcoming musical Cinderella. “I think my favorite part is the community that we form,” said Junior Emily Heidick. “There is just something about doing a show together that creates a family.”

This spring, the theatre welcomes a bit of magic to the stage. Joyful songs, dancing, and laughter will delight children and adults alike in the final school year production of 2015, “Cinderella”.

On May 8 and 9, the charming fairy tale will take place and marks the end of another successful year for those in theatre. After the fall “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the winter production of “Grease,” this production takes on the more classical side of storytelling. Originally a Brother’s Grimm tale, Cinderella has been reproduced to fit new characters in countless different books, movies and theatre productions. Director Haeri Tollefson explained that the production has been changed slightly to make the characters a little more interesting and interactive with the audience.

“This [version] has a narrator, the godmother narrates the whole thing and we were trying to avoid too much cheese, trying not to make it too cheesy, but at the same time being inclusive to the little kids. There’s a certain amount of sentimentality to it, but this one is more fun,” Tollefson said.

In addition to making it inclusive to children in the audience, the production includes about 70 children in roles and as extras to the cast.

“I purposefully cast some children to expand the role of Cinderella as more of a storyteller herself to the children,” Tollefson said.

The movie version of Cinderella, which many know well, includes a large amount of conversation between Cinderella and her animal friends, which won’t occur in this production, creating a challenge for how to tell the full story.

“The major difference is that there isn’t any little mice or talking animals to help [Cinderella] out, she just tells stories a lot which differentiates her character from most of the other Cinderella’s,” junior Grace Baldwin said.

In addition to adding dialogue between Cinderella and the audience, rather than the animals, the character is being adapted to be an admirable character and more self-dependent than in other versions.

“Cinderella becomes more of a likable person and a stronger character than I’ve seen in other Cinderella stories, where Cinderella is more of a weak character, waiting for somebody to show up and save her, and not really taking any initiative. We tried to make her a character that’s a little more fun, as a storyteller to the children,” Tollefson said.

The job of interpreting the role to make it more enjoyable for the audience is sophomore Mary Burchill, who will be playing the role of Cinderella.

“Cinderella has to be super likable, but some lines you can definitely make them not likable, so just figuring out how I want to play Cinderella and make her a likable, interesting character [is the biggest challenge],” Burchill said.

Taking on the challenge of a new role is nothing new for Burchill, who has been in productions since childhood and learned how to adapt and become a new character.

“Growing up, my family has been very theatre oriented, and I remember one of the first movies I saw was the Wizard of Oz and my mom would always take me to musicals. All my life I really enjoyed musicals but I didn’t think I’d ever do it until they had auditions for Annie and my mom forced me to audition,” Burchill said.

For Burchill, playing the role of Cinderella provides great experience for her to develop her skills in acting, singing and dancing, as well as the opportunity to work with children.

“I was nervous because I haven’t worked with little kids in a show for a bit of time so when I got to hang out with them right away, we all kind of bonded and I learned all their names. We just worked together and it’s a lot of fun,” Burchill said.

Baldwin also got the opportunity to work closely beside the children in her role as fairy godmother. She claims that although the time frame of the production is shorter, the final show of the year has overall been a very enjoyable experience.

“It’s really fun, I get to work with the kids a lot which is great. It’s been a really short show for what we normally do, we’ve had about a little over a month and normally we get around two months so memorizing all of the lines and learning all of the choreography has been more difficult this time,” Baldwin said.

Along with the responsibility of taking on the large role, Burchill is eager to be playing such a fun role that has enchanted countless people.

“I love Disney princesses a lot and just being able to be one is really exciting and I really like how good her character is as a person and I like being able to play someone like that. I have a lot of fun singing all of her songs, they’re really fun melodies and just being able to have scenes with almost everyone in the cast is really fun too,” Burchill said.

Tollefson shares that the varying ages of the actors creates new friendships and an enjoyable environment for the cast and crew.

“I think [the best part] it’s working with all of the different age groups. Everyone is just so outwardly nice. They all get along almost too well because they become very social and they’re just excited to see each other at rehearsal,” Tollefson said.

Cinderella, a classic and well-loved fairy tale takes the stage and marks the end of another school year as it fills the hearts of children and adults alike with magic.