Behind the Magic: Theatre Production’s Magic in Cinderella

If you watched Brentwood’s latest musical production, Cinderella, you would’ve seen lights shining across the stage to perfection, sets seamlessly changing, and curiously enough, an 8ft giant swinging across the stage. This wasn’t all just magic from the fairy godmother; it was from the miraculous work of Theatre Production. Ms Hilary Britton-Foster led her talented crew through rehearsals filled with hard work and five nights of shows filled with discipline, laughter, and endless memories. 

As Cinderella twirled into the wings and somehow spun back out in a new dress, the audience was left stunned and eager to know how this magic happened. Here’s the secret: behind the curtains, Liza D, Mack ‘26 and Zoe G, Alex ‘26 waited patiently for their moment to come, ripping off Cinderella’s first dress, to reveal her new shiny ballgown. Liza said, “It was stressful, but after many practices and learning under the great Thelma Grobbelaar, we were happy to be a part of the magic behind the scenes.” Theatre magic is not accidental; it is meticulously created through trial and error, so that the show runs smoothly with fun and tenacity. 

One of the most ambitious parts of Cinderella was the creation of the giant. Mason K, Whittall ‘27, bravely pulled on the stilts, wore the enormous head with pride, and adjusted to the huge hands with complete ease with the help of the Giant Wrangler, Aidan W, Whittall ‘27. This dynamic duo worked together and helped to bring this magic to life, on and off stage. With such a short amount of time to get in and out of the giant costume before the next scene change, the pressure was on. The giant was not simply a costume, but a perfectly engineered illusion, requiring teamwork from actors and production crew. 

Something equally impressive was the seamless scene changes performed by the quick-running crew, and called by assistant stage managers Declan K, Rogers ‘26 and Zach E, Whittall ‘27. This team that worked together beautifully on the ground was met with many challenges, and was under a lot of pressure to make the scene changes as unnoticeable as possible. Declan K, Theatre Pro Co-captain, said, “Sets were heavy, stand-bys were called, and we all worked together as a team to make this show run as smoothly as possible.” Each scene change was rehearsed with the same precision that went into the beautiful dance numbers, both arts in themselves. The magic of this show relied on what was shown on and off stage, and all was met with efficiency and focus. 

Now that the show has finished, we know that Cinderella was more than a fairy tale. This testament to hard work, craftsmanship, and most importantly, teamwork roared through the Killy Theatre these past few months. As a “wrap gift”, Ms Hilary Britton-Foster got her students a book highlighting the hard work the crew put into the production in our own “fairy tale” way. 

A big thanks to Jonas, Brandon, and Lukas for sound; Gracie, Lizzy, Miron, and Esther up in the booth; Zach, Declan, Joey, Hui Wern, Aiden, Mason, and Raven for their work backstage; Liza, Zoe, and Arielle for costumes. And of course, my biggest thank you to Ms Britton-Foster, whose passion and endless hard work made the show!. We are super thankful to have had the opportunity to create with you! 

Thank you, Theatre Pro, for showing me that impossible things are happening every day!

Lila C, Hope ‘26