A Cinderella Moment

Vancouver Opera In Schools is again on the road, this time touring our production of Cinderella. Our Cinderella, Erin Lawson, shares this moment from Uclulet.

Here's one show moment that sticks in my head, not the least because it reminded me of what I expect I would have done as a little girl at a show of Cinderella, overcome by excitement.

This young lady, probably in kindergarten or grade one, was sitting right up by the stage. There was one moment that was so exciting for her she just *could not* keep her thoughts inside her head. I loved her all the more for it!

It was the moment when Alidoro presents me with the big white and golden present. Even before I had the chance to open the lid I heard this intake of breath and a little voice in the front row say, quite quietly, “it’s the dress.”

Now, this in itself was just charming, and I found I had more joy opening the present that day, just knowing that one little girl was right there with me! But, for this little girl, that was only the start.

With each subsequent item removed from the present, the volume and excitement level of her voice grew. Out comes the headpiece, “...it’s the dress.” Out come the gloves “...It’s THE Dress!” Out come the bracelets, “IT’S THE DRESS!!!”

Well, by this point I was grinning from ear to ear!!!

Now, I don’t actually pull the dress out of the box at this point. The dress reveal has to wait until the ball scene. So, off I went from the stage for my quick change, and when the curtain went up for the ball scene, I heard the crowning moment: a huge sigh of relief and our little friend exclaiming “I KNEW there’d be a dress!”

And she sat there quietly for the rest of the show, with a big smile on her fairytale loving face.

And here's a photo from the road: Erin at Long Beach.

I think this photo best captures the essence of the beauty that this amazing province has to shown me.

Being from Ontario, I have NEVER had the opportunity to travel through a place that goes from mountains, that make me feel dwarfed by their magnitude, to rain forest so dense you feel like you're breathing in a history of moss of a million years, to this amazing vista at Long Beach where I could, and did, just sit and stare forever!

photo courtesy of Brian Lee