- Cinderella : The enchanted version .

The University of Calgary's Production of "Cindrella: The Enchanted Version" was well done but nothing id consider phenomenal. Some of the vocal talent in the production, such as the prince as well a the fairy godmother, was phenomenal. Their voices had such depth and dynamic to them that made them extremely pleasent to listen to. The lady cast as Cinderella was greatly talented vocally, but cast as a lead with many solo's and such, her voice was so high that it was almost hard to listen to unless put side-by-side with another voice in a lower register. Unlike RDS's production of Rent in early 2011, the U of C had enough vocal talent to put on a show with such a high degree of musical difficulty. Everyone down to the smallest voice in the chorus could hold their own if-need-be. The set was well thought through and adaptable for the many different settings in the production which couldve proved to be an obstacle. They stayed on the simple side of set design, using larger objects on the stage with a black curtain background rather than recreating a full picture. This i think was a better choice, allowing the audience to create their own perception of details of the set. The idea of magic, which is definitely prominent within the storyline of Cinderella, was done well and approached with a good attitude, though im sure there could have been better ways to achieve the illusion flawlessly. It did bother me and take away from the illusion when they went to bring out the carriage (made from the pumpkin) and the curtain was caught on the carriage and took alot away from the whole concept of "suspending disbelief". The costuming was phenomenally detailed and accurate in comparison to the movie's time, though the actual design of classic outfits, such as the princess dress for the ball, had been changed and reinvented for that stage which was nice and formed an unpredictable aspect of the production. The costuming design was one of the strongest aspects of this production. They had a live band just off to the side of the stage which was a nice addition, though at times i found the lights from the music stands extremely distracting during the portions of the play that were lit only dimly. Since at the times, the band was not playing, it would have been benificial to have the music stand lights switched off or even dimmed with the rest of the lights. Though the production was well-done, there were alot of aspects that took me back from that suspension of disbelief, so i found it difficult to find my way back into the story. I feel that as a closing night production, there was still more room for improvement, though it wouldnt be upsetting if that was the final turn out.