'Cinderella' characters right out of a storybook

OREM — "Cinderella" was appropriately busy cleaning her room when she was interrupted for an interview with the Deseret Morning News.

"I'm really into the part," said Emily Maria Smith, the 19-year-old Orem High School graduate who'll don the crown for the SCERA production. "My mother had the original version of the show, and she's told me I would go around singing all the songs when I was just little."

Now that she's all grown up, she still loves the songs and likes getting all dressed up for the part. She even has a bunch of young girls in the cast who follow her around.

"I feel like a princess. It's like every girl's dream, isn't it?" she said.

It's Smith's first show at the SCERA and her first lead role in a community theater production. She was in Hale Center's "Scarlet Pimpernel" and had a number of lead roles in high school where she worked with the late Syd Riggs.

In "Cinderella" she's finding working with director Mindy B. Young a good fit.

"I love Mindy. She has been a fabulous director," Smith said. "It's going to be really funny, a lighthearted show that's somewhere between the traditional Cinderella and 'Into the Woods.' "

Shawn Mortensen, who plays the court Herald, is also a fan of Young.

He played the lead in the SCERA's "Cat in the Hat" and was the scarecrow in "Wizard of Oz."

He's been given a lot of license in "Cinderella."

"My part is more or less a combination of a couple of different parts. AJ Nielsen is the tailor and Kyle Harper is the baker, and we kind of 'Three Stooges' it up. We're kind of the vigorous wedding ball planners," Mortensen said.

"I'm a little bit crazy and a little bit odd. For instance, my costume is an aqua green jacket with a big frilly shirt. I have 4-inch heels on my boots."

Mortensen said people who come to see the show won't go away disappointed.

"If you enjoyed 'Wizard of Oz,' you'll enjoy this," he promised.

Young said, "It's really exciting. It's not typical Mindy, i.e. modern, turned-around, upside-down stuff. We've taken books and art and made it so kids will feel like they've opened up a big storybook. It will look just like a storybook. The characters will like like they just stepped out of a storybook with lots of wigs and makeup and colorful costumes."

There will also be lots of pre-show activity, Young said.

"We'll have Cinderella tea parties before the Saturday matinees (for $10 from noon to 1:30 p.m.) with miniature horse and carriage rides. Little girls can actually take a ride in a princess carriage."

Young said she hopes the pre-show fun will become a lasting part of SCERA productions.

"The more we do events like these, the more memorable it becomes," Young said.

If you go

What: "Cinderella"

Where: SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State, Orem

When: 7:30 p.m., Mondays,Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, through March 27; matinees at 2 p.m., March 4, 11, 18, 25

Cost: $12/$10 children

Phone: 225-2569

Web: www.scera.org

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E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com