Cinderella

The 25th anniversary season of the Fair Oaks Theatre Festival kicks off with a satisfying production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein confection Cinderella. It would take a heartless stepmother to resist the charms of adorable children dressed as white mice and angels—especially when they can’t resist a wave or two to friends and family in the audience. But from a critic’s point of view, the best parts of the show are the fine voices—Analise Langford-Clark as the dreamy drudge-turned-princess Cinderella and the ever-and-always topnotch Jerry Lee as her prince, with Brianne Hidden adding some fine notes as the fairy godmother. The gender-bending casting of men (Jeff Labowitch, Joe Hart and Corey D. Winfield) as the wicked stepmother and her unlovely daughters provides some comedic turns, particularly in terms of trying on a delicate slipper with feet the size of a defensive lineman’s. With dazzling costumes, cheerful choreography and a funny-voiced, food-obsessed King (Raymond Keller endows the monarch with the vocal qualities of Droopy Dog), there’s more than enough to keep all ages happy under the night sky. And that includes the delightful sounds of roosters crowing through the first act and a rock band playing in the park next door through the second—the fringe benefits of outdoor theater.