Nearly 100 People, Months of Hard Work, One Beloved Story: St. James Players Set to Bring Cinderella to Life at Showplace
/By Scott Arnold
It takes more than a glass slipper to create a little theatre magic. For St. James Players, it takes 37 performers, nearly 100 people working behind the scenes and a community of volunteers who have spent months bringing Cinderella to life, all for the love of theatre and the chance to make audiences fall in love with the story all over again.
Director Natalie Dorsett stands in front of the empty stage at Showplace Performance Centre, which will soon be filled with 37 performers as St. James Players bring their version of Cinderella to audiences with seven shows from November 13th to 21st. (photo by scott arnold)
There’s a reason Cinderella has been told for generations. But when St. James Players bring the beloved musical to Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough this November, director Natalie Dorsett promises audiences something more than a story they already know.
“You might not know it this way,” she says.
With a few twists on familiar characters, gorgeous music by Rodgers and Hammerstein and a cast of 37 performers ranging in age from around 10 to their 60s, this production has been months in the making. Behind it is a team of volunteers who have poured countless hours into creating something special for the community.
For Dorsett, who has spent nearly four decades involved in local theatre, the goal is simple: make the audience feel something.
“I just want people to come in and get to their world, to really feel like Ella and Topher are right there and get to know who they are and just feel really passionate about them,” she says.
“And, you know, I want everybody to have that feeling and to walk out of this theatre, humming along for the songs, going home and looking up on YouTube some of those scenes because they just fell in love with this show like I have.”
It’s that kind of enthusiasm that has helped bring this production together, and Dorsett believes audiences of all ages will find something to love.
“You can be 3 years old. You're going to be absolutely enamored with the magic and just the characters and everything that's going to happen. But you can also be 103 and be able to sit there and enjoy the story that you've probably heard 100 times, but in a completely different way.”
A Big Production Built on Local Talent
One of the things Dorsett loves most about St. James Players is the opportunity to bring so many people together, particularly in a community with as much creative talent as Peterborough.
The Cinderella cast alone includes 37 performers, with a live band of approximately 14 musicians, a backstage crew, a production team and plenty of volunteers helping make everything happen.
All told, Dorsett estimates close to 100 people are involved in bringing the production to the stage.
“I love a nice big cast,” she says. “We have so much talent here in Peterborough. So I tend to have big casts. But I love that when they fill the stage and just the harmonies and the voices and the stories that they bring. It's incredible.”
The music is a particularly exciting part of the production. Justin Hiscox, the show's music and vocal director, has been working with the cast to bring the score to life.
“The music is absolutely gorgeous,” says Dorsett. “Justin Hiscox, who is our music and vocal director, has done an incredible job with the cast and the harmonies and just the nuances in their singing. It's incredible.”
She also has plenty of praise for the people responsible for the show's visual elements.
Shelley Moody is Dorsett's stage manager, costume coordinator and set decorator and designer, while Brad Crough is responsible for the props. Melissa Earle is the choreographer, bringing her experience in Peterborough's dance community to the production.
And then there's the carriage.
“When you see this carriage, guys, you're going to die,” Dorsett says. “It's unbelievable. He has made it from hand, like really literally from hand. And it's just incredible.”
It's the kind of detail that helps transform a familiar story into a theatrical experience, with the cast, costumes, choreography, props and music all working together to draw the audience into Cinderella's world.
Dorsett also credits her producer, Fred Batley, and the St. James Players board for the work they do to make productions possible.
“Fred Batley, who this would not happen. St. James would not happen without him. He is truly the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). I just adore that man so much.”
Having people she trusts in key roles means Dorsett can concentrate on directing the actors and bringing the story together rather than trying to manage every detail herself.
“I trust my team,” she says. “And then a nice big cast. I love a big cast.”
A Family Affair, Onstage and Off
The age range of the cast is another source of excitement for Dorsett, who has spent recent years helping mentor young performers and stage manage St. James Players' spring shows.
Getting to see some of those young actors step onto the larger stage at Showplace is especially rewarding.
“I love it,” she says. “I had the opportunity to help out with our spring show, which is our children's show more, children's performers. For the last couple of years, I've helped out mentoring and doing some stage managing, you meet the most glorious young actors and performers.”
“ And for me to get to put them in the bigger show and they get to be on the big stage is so exciting.”
With performers from around 10 or 11 years old to people in their 60s, the production also offers a reminder that community theatre is something people of different ages can enjoy and take part in.
Dorsett hopes seeing that range of performers will encourage others to get involved themselves.
“You get to look on that stage and people in the audience are going to see people that, hey, I could do that. They're doing it. I can do that.”
Her invitation to the community is straightforward: “And please come out, audition, come hang out with us. It's so much fun.”
For Dorsett, theatre has always been a family affair in more ways than one.
Her first show with St. James Players was Oliver, when she was around 17 or 18. She had already been involved in theatre since the age of six, when she first performed with the Peterborough Theatre Guild.
Her mother introduced her to the performing arts, and other family members followed a similar path. Today, that tradition continues with her own family involved in Cinderella.
Her daughter is in the cast, her sister-in-law and niece are also performing, and her husband helped build and design the set.
“My mother-in-law is our biggest fan,” Dorsett says, adding that her mother is always checking in to see how the production is coming along.
But the sense of family extends well beyond those related by blood.
“St. James becomes a family,” she says. “So the people that I work with and that I get to play on stage with and get to play off stage with are some of the most glorious humans I've ever met in my life and they are truly family and I don't know what I would do without them.”
Nearly a Year of Work, All for the Love of Theatre
While audiences will see the finished production over seven performances, the work behind Cinderella began long before rehearsals.
Dorsett started planning nearly a year before the show, speaking with potential crew members and preparing a presentation for the St. James Players board. From there came audition preparation, music, readings, rehearsals, choreography and the many details required to bring a full-scale musical together.
Auditions began in May, and the production has been building ever since.
“So you're right, it has been months and months of incredible, wonderful, glorious work,” she says.
What makes that commitment even more remarkable is that St. James Players is a nonprofit, entirely volunteer-based organization.
From the board and directors to the cast, musicians and crew, everyone involved is donating their time and talent to make the production happen.
“Literally everyone on that stage puts hours and hours into this incredible performance that they're going to put on for free,” Dorsett says.
“They're literally just doing it, like you said, just from the love of their heart.”
Money raised through productions goes back into St. James Players to support future shows. The organization also gives back to the wider community, including supporting the Kawartha Food Bank and breakfast programs at local schools.
It's a significant undertaking, made possible by people who believe in the value of bringing live theatre to Peterborough.
Dorsett is equally grateful for the support of Showplace, which provides the venue and technical expertise needed to bring the production to life.
She praises the staff, volunteers and technical team for helping local performers put on a show in a professional theatre setting, even when the transition from rehearsals to the Showplace stage happens in just a couple of days.
“I'm very grateful to be part of Showplace,” she says. “It's amazing.”
An Invitation to Fall in Love With Cinderella All Over Again
For all the work that goes into the costumes, music, choreography, scenery and staging, Dorsett keeps coming back to the same thing: the story.
She wants audiences to connect with Ella and Topher, feel invested in what happens to them and become immersed in the world unfolding onstage.
That means cheering for the characters they love, disliking the ones they're supposed to dislike and leaving with the music still in their heads.
“It's an absolutely incredible show that I think everyone in Peterborough is going to talk about for a long time because it's just phenomenal,” she says.
It's a big statement, but Dorsett's passion for the production is unmistakable. And with a cast of 37, a live band, an elaborate handmade carriage and an army of volunteers behind the scenes, there's plenty of work going into making the experience memorable.
For anyone who enjoys live theatre, for families looking for something to experience together or for those who simply want to rediscover a familiar story, Cinderella offers an opportunity to see what happens when a community comes together to create something of its own.
St. James Players' Cinderella runs at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough from November 13th to November 21st.
As Dorsett and the St. James Players team prepare to welcome audiences, their hope is that people won't simply watch Cinderella unfold, but feel like they've been part of the journey.
And perhaps leave humming a song or two on the way home.
Showtimes:
Friday, November 13th at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 14th at 2pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, November 15th at 2pm
Thursday, November 19th at 7:30pm
Friday, November 20th at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 21st at 2pm
