The Echo’s Cinderella Tale is Charming if Flawed

By Maren VonNiederhausern

I recently attended The Echo’s production of This Castle Needs a Good Scouring by J. Omar Hansen, directed by Jacob Chapman. I was intrigued by a charming yellow and purple stage upon entering the cozy Echo Theater. The still-charming Greek chorus (Brady Anderson, Rachel Summerhalder, Zack Harmon, Rachel Banner, led by Greg Belnap) introduced the play. They were amusing in their red caps and quite resembled Smurfs. They kept a consistent presence throughout the show and were an easy strength and solid backbone.

The story spoofed Cinderella, portraying the heroine (played by Abigail Snarr) as a neat-freak who is also just slightly—touched in the head, shall we say? She actually resisted the fairy godmother (Rachel Belt) in the storybook scheme to retrieve a pumpkin and mice and attend the royal ball. J. Omar’s script was cute and sweet and a little quirky. It was the strength of the show.

Oh, that poor fairy godmother. Nothing ever goes her way: A runaway elf, distaste for the chorus, and little sense of dynamic variety. I admit, Belt’s shrill, panicked voice didn’t work for me. Her physicality was funny, but she was too loud.

The Princes Henry and Richard (played by Spencer Thayne and Tanner Gillman) were my personal favorite characters. Henry, the elder prince who was in love with Cinderella, had a very dramatic personality and spent his stage time ranting Shakespearian prose in a British accent. Richard was the most sane character in the cast, and in my opinion the strongest actor. His love interest was, interestingly, the not-so-wicked stepsister Elizabeth (Rachel Ryan). As unexpected as the love-at-first-sight relationship is, the chemistry was convincing and endearing.

The other stepsister, Böbel (played by Bryn Curry– and it’s BURRbel, mind you!), also found love, in the form of the fairy godmother’s perpetually missing elf, Wolfgang (James Peterson). This relationship was less natural, more quirky than anything else, but not necessarily a blemish on the face of the production.

Griselda (Belinda Purdum), the wicked but sorely misunderstood stepmother, also managed to force a relationship for the sake of making sure everybody got paired up. With the King (Nick Estrada), no less!

And, as we all know, the shoe fit and everyone lived happilyeveraftertheend. Spoiler alert.
The play was cute, it really was, but it was also alarmingly chaotic and unmotivated. The actors, with a few momentary exceptions, were fairly casual about their diction, and even imagining myself as a child in the audience I was frustrated. Without the focus, direction, and clarity that separates delivering lines from telling the story, a young’un will surely be lost and confused.

On the whole, this wasn’t one of my favorite productions. Though it had fun moments, what I took away was that every characters has the attitude of “louder is funnier.”
For me, it wasn’t.

Techies get five stars for perfect timing and things of that nature, in all aspects. Lovely work.

This Castle Needs a Good Scouring

The Echo Theater 15 N 100 E Provo, Utah

Runs through March 21 (Mon, Thur, Fri, Sat) at 7:30 pm. Tickets $8-$12. (Tickets available at the door and online.)

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