Cinderella begins with a quartet of rogues coming out on stage and singing a song to the audience. The song is in four-part harmony, so one specimen of each vocal part (SATB) is required. Last year I somehow got picked to be the bass in the quartet, despite being a befuddled newbie who didn’t know the quartet dance steps and was terrified at being the second person the audience would see every night. The only explanation I can think of is that they were really short on basses.
The first week of rehearsals includes an audition for cast members who are interested in being in the quartet. This year’s musical director, Jane, was in the ensemble last year, so she remembers me. (And I’m the only one of last year’s quartet who came back.) On the first day of rehearsals, she asked me privately if I was planning to try out for the quartet again. I said, “Sure, if you need me.” It was fine with me if she picked someone else; after all, I’ve already done it, so I don’t have anything to prove. But the other bass candidates were all new to the play, so I had a distinct advantage over them (as soprano candidate Kerry pointed out when she saw that I was the only one auditioning without sheet music).
I suppose the result was inevitable. At last night’s rehearsal, Jane told me that I was in the quartet again. So this year’s Cinderella experience is shaping up to be exactly like last year’s: I’ll be playing the same part in the same play, singing all the same songs and doing the same dance steps. In fact, as I learned when I went for my costume fitting, we’re even going to be wearing the same costumes. Unfortunately, during last year’s production and the months that followed, I slacked off on my diet and regained about twenty pounds. I’ve held my weight steady since spring, but it hasn’t gone back down.
Well, I’ll have to fit into my old costumes. So I’ve gone back to a super-strict version of my diet and will try to shed ten or twelve of those pounds before the show opens on December 12. My resolve was challenged yesterday, when one of my coworkers brought a box of doughtnuts to a meeting I attended. I gritted my teeth and ignored them. And then, on my way from work to rehearsal, I stopped at the hybrid KFC/Taco Bell across the street — and instead of my usual 7-Layer Burrito and Double-Decker Taco combination, I ordered the KFC buffet and ate two plates of vegetables.
I’ve done this before; I can do it again. That’s my new mantra.

The first rehearsal for Cinderella was last night. It was just like I remember from last year. We sat on rows of chairs in the theatre’s dance studio. The artistic director gave an orientation speech, the stage manager reviewed the rules and guidelines for cast members, we all filled out contact information forms and got our scripts (just sheet music for us ensemble members), and then the music director took over and began rehearsing the pieces we’ll be singing in the show.
As I said, it was just like 2002 — but at the same time, it couldn’t be more different. At last year’s first rehearsal, the entire experience was new and strange, and I had no idea what to expect. I had never been in a Raleigh Little Theatre play (or a play at any community theatre) before, while most of the people sitting around me were experienced actors. If we were rehearsing any other play, I could have at least taken comfort in the fact that the play itself was new to virtually everyone, and we would all be learning it together. But RLT has been staging Cinderella for two decades, so many people in the cast had done it before — and some people had been in it a dozen times or more! This show had twenty years of accumulated history and traditions, and I didn’t know any of it. So that first rehearsal was nerve-wracking. I wasn’t the only first-timer, and everyone was really nice and patient about it, but I was still painfully aware of how much I didn’t know.
Now it’s a year later, and this is familiar territory. This time last year I was struggling to learn the music — but now I know the songs already, and people were listening to me to learn them. Many of the cast members are people I already know, either from last year’s Cinderella or from other shows I’ve worked on at RLT. (In fact, one of the actresses and I know each other because she’s in Schoolhouse Rock Live, and the evening before I had been shining a spotlight on her.) I even know a lot of the Cinderella history and tradition, because I spent hundreds of hours with last year’s cast, and I listened eagerly to their war stories.
I’m a Cinderella veteran. It’s a strange feeling. But a good one.

Ruth and I both got contacted today. She has been cast as Ophelia in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, and I am in the Cinderella ensemble. Ben has also confirmed that he wants to work on the running crew for Cinderella again, as he did last year. As I mentioned in my last entry, Marie will be Mouse Wrangler, and Ruth will help her when she’s not busy with R&G.
I’m happy and excited about being in the show again, but I’m also kind of nervous. I hope I’m up to this. I was nervous last year too, but that was because I hadn’t been in a play for a quarter century and hadn’t been in an RLT show at all. Everything about the experience was new, and it was rather overwhelming for a while.
This year should be easier, because I’ve done Cinderella before. I know the songs and dances (or at least it won’t take me long to relearn them), I’m familiar with the script and staging, the costumes and sets and props, all that stuff. But when I did this last year, I was unemployed. I was able to focus all my energies on the play. This year I’m going to be working a full day at IBM, then driving directly to the theatre for evening rehearsals. It’s going to be tough.
But I knew that when I auditioned. Now that the die is cast, I’m bouncing between opposite emotions. Woohoo!! I’m doing Cinderella again! Aaaauuuggghhhh!! I must be out of my mind! Marie is going through something similar, realizing that she just effectively adopted seven young children for the duration of the show. We keep looking at each other dazedly and saying things like, “We’re going to be insane by Christmas.”
It’s going to be a lot of fun. But it’s also going to be a very intense, exhausting experience. I keep reminding myself that the other cast members have day jobs, too. If they can get through this, so can I. In my saner moments, I know that it’s going to be all right. But still . . . Woohoo!! Aaaaauuuuggghhh!!
The first rehearsal is Monday night.