The Center Stage Pantos are legendary. We took our granddaughters to them and we all laughed and had a great time commenting, singing along and defying the bad guys to do anything to the young heroes. We hissed the villains, and hurrayed the heroes. Things have changed and now it seems there are fewer children in the seats, but more on the stage. We can easily deal with that.
The old jokes, the over-played gestures and story lines, the remarks from the audience in unison, and the silliness remains. We loved every minute of the production and the audience participation was just like it was supposed to be. This time around it was the Fairy Godmother who introduced the storyline and informed us all about our parts to play. Carrie Sleeper-Bowers played the fairy Godmother in her sweeping gown of sparkling stars. Carrie has appeared in most of our local theaters and so it looked like she felt right at home.
Brad Cerenzia portrayed Stepsister Kourtney of Cinderella. Brad has played in a number of CenterStage pantos and usually is the dame – a man playing a woman. He loves those roles and does a fantastic job. Normally he walks all around the seats spreading laughs and comments that some people get and some people don’t. This time he had a fellow stepsister in Khloe played by Bob De Dea. The two of them worked the crowd well. De Dea, like Brad, has numerous credits to his name. The two of them together were hilarious. It was tough to figure out who was taller . . . they both had hair that was a good two feet high or wide or who knows? Funny and . . . did we mention funny?
The Buttons character was played by Meghan Ames. Buttons kind of runs the show and takes characters under her wing and fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and . . . the Panto way. This was Meghan’s first effort with CenterStage and she came across as an old timer. She was smooth and her character kept everything in motion and flowing. She was constantly in motion, kicking, jumping, and dancing – a dynamo. She’s performed in a number of productions at Vashon Repertory Theatre. I think Peg and I should schedule a trip to Vashon to hopefully catch Meghan on stage. The view from our kitchen is straight across the water to Quarter Master Harbor.
Jasmine Wright played the right hand man of the Prince. Great dancer and actor . . . not bad for a former police officer. She began her training in Tacoma before expanding to Los Angeles and New York. She’s done media work on both TNT and Amazon Prime. She’s busy as a yoga instructor and a mother . . . AND hopefully will continue on stage here locally.
Dale Bowers played Baron Hardup. He even looked regal. Dale has performed at a number of Seattle based theaters and appeared in eight holiday Pantos at CenterStage. He’s also done summer stock from Idaho to Alaska.
The ensemble dance captain was Leila Niedlinger. She played the Fairy Queen in the CenterStage Panto Rapunzel, while Jessie Selleck, Cinderella in this panto played Rapunzel. Leila has danced in In the Heights at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, which was one of our favorite musical at Tacoma Musical Playhouse.
Dean Marshall, still a student, is a stand out young man. We’ve seen him in Bye Bye Birdie, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as well as two different Pantos. He takes his parts seriously. It’s a joy watching him concentrate.
We’ve seen Colleen Michelle in two different plays at CenterStage. She’s a good dancer and she really stood out in The Importance of Being Earnest.
Of course in fairy tale endings, good news overcomes everything and things just work out fine. That’s what happens when you have excellent people on stage, too. The Prince had a royal performance. We’ve seen Kyle Sinclair as Franz Liebkind in The Producers at Lakewood Playhouse, so we know what funny is as well as excellent acting. We loved him cast as the computer in The Oregon Trail earlier this year. Agile should be his middle name, we saw him pushed to the floor and he jumped back up in a second. It was amazing. We look forward to seeing him again at CenterStage. Joining him in the finale was Jessie Selleck as Cinderella. We’ve seen Jessie a number of times and always look forward to her acting, but she really blew us away as Cinderella with her excellent singing range. Very nice, very nice. Everything else was a build up . . . and it was worth it.
This is a great show to take younger children to. They see a fairytale, costumes and experience singing and silliness. Cinderella runs thru the 18th of the month. But, on the other hand, it’s a great place to take older adults to, also.
CenterStage is located officially in Federal Way. However, for people familiar with the Tacoma area, CenterStage is located on Dumas Bay, just a few minutes north of Browns Point.
For tickets, visit: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=141430
