Cinderella: Opening night!

After three weeks of very intensive rehearsals (for me as much as my daughter), the opening night of Cinderella arrived. And there was no way I was going to miss it! We booked tickets weeks ago, when hardly any tickets had been booked, and my husband opted for the front row, right in the middle. Much to my daughter’s horror.

My daughter had taken rehearsals completely in her stride and was never nervous, so I’m pleased to say I wasn’t nervous either on the first night. She plaited her hair to perfection (I have no idea how she does it) and my mum applied her make-up (one day I’m going to have to bite the bullet and do it myself) and she was off! Ready for her big stage debut.

Daughter, Pantomime, Cinderella, Hair

The show opens with the Fairy Godmother giving a bit of Cinderella’s back story. And to tell the story she had a family of little mini-mes – small versions of the key people in Cinderella’s life. So the second person on the stage was my daughter! She was playing a comedy miniature Baron Hardup, literally left holding the baby after his wife died. Then he too died dramatically and crawled off the stage as the curtains opened ready for the big opening scene.

And there was my daughter on the back of the stage, smiling in a different costume. How did she get there so quickly?

The chorus members all danced with the Buttons and Dandini in a really high-energy routine. It’s one I’d seen hundreds of times in my kitchen already, but with the costumes, the sets and everyone else on stage, it looked absolutely amazing. I was bursting with pride that the little girl, up there on stage, dancing brilliantly was my daughter.

As I watched the panto, I realised just how much I knew about it. Every joke, every song, every character, every dance routine… My daughter had told me A LOT about it. But did that make me enjoy it any less? No. In many ways it just made me even more proud.

I wondered if I might get bored in the bits without my daughter. It’s a bit weird, isn’t it? A couple of adults watching a panto without any kids in tow. But of course I didn’t get bored. It was way too funny and entertaining for that. The ugly sisters had me in stitches. At one point, they were standing so close we could have touched them. We were quite literally in the firing line in their search for ‘a posh bloke’. Luckily my husband wasn’t posh enough for them!

My daughter’s next appearance on stage was at the end of the first act – in the transformation scene. As the Fairy Godmother turns the pumpkin into the carriage, ballet dancers appear, glowing in the dark under UV light. My daughter was convinced we wouldn’t see her as it was dark and had told us to look out for her – she would be the little one at the front in the orange dress. She really didn’t need to tell us that – we could spot her anywhere.

The ballet dancing was beautiful and very different from the first routine. I hope her ballet teacher will be proud when she watches (I know she will).

Act 2 opened with the ball. All of the chorus were dancing, in my daughter’s favourite dance of the lot. This one was even more complex and entertaining than the first dance. As I think about it now, I’m trying to remember if she was dressed as a man or a woman in this one and I’m not even sure. She was slightly obscured by an ugly sister’s humungous dress, so I moved seats to try to see her better. But she knew exactly where we were sitting and had kept her eyes on us all the way through and was apparently a bit troubled to suddenly see my seat empty. And I still didn’t see her any better. Hopefully next time I will have a clearer view.

Just before the end of the dancing, my daughter sneaked off. Baroness Hardup was causing trouble in the ballroom and Dandini had to call for palace security.

On walked the security guard in black bomber jacket and woolly hat, a bit smaller and less burly than your average security guard.

My daughter was greeted by laughs, applause and cheers FROM PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HER. I was so proud. This was her starring moment. She was so funny that people laughed as much at her as they did at the ugly sisters! Yet she kept a perfectly straight face as she delivered her line and bundled the Baroness off. In response to all the laughter, the Baroness added a little twist to her line – and struggled to keep a straight face herself!

The security guard crossed the stage a couple of more times over the next few minutes as she saw the Baroness off once and for all. I was surprised when she re-appeared a couple of scenes later, in Cinderella’s kitchen, as the ugly sisters caused trouble.

At the end of the show, when all of the chorus and most of the main characters had new, special ‘wedding’ outfits, my daughter took her bow dressed as the security guard. She went on after the other chorus members, with a child playing a bigger non-speaking part. She even got to take her bow and dance in the front line. She looked so little and cute and I could have burst with pride!

My husband said the panto was one of his proudest moments and I would have to agree. It’s a huge thing for a child to do and she looked so slick and professional up on stage.

I couldn’t have been more proud of my girl. I can’t stop thinking about how well she did and I can’t wait to see the show again.

“MumofThree

Author: Sarah Mummy

Share This Post On

37 Comments

  1. Sounds fantastic, I wish I could come and cheer her on with you!

    Post a Reply
    • It was brilliant! It would be amazing to have you there! 🙂

      Post a Reply
  2. Bravo! Big cheers for your daughter. All the effort sounds like it was more than worth it. What a little star!

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! The effort was definitely worth it, she was amazing! 🙂 x

      Post a Reply
  3. What a little star your daughter is! No wonder you are so proud. I am disappointed she was not performing last night so that we could have seen her perform too:( It is a fabulous, entertaining show. Your daughter will learn so much from being around pro’s this panto season:)

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much. I wish you could have seen her too! It’s an amazing show and she has already learned so much from the professionals 🙂

      Post a Reply
  4. What a clever girl you have, and every reason to be proud. I’d love to have seen the ballet, I could never get Clio to do any in her school productions. Popping by from Small Steps Amazing Achievements

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much. The ballet was absolutely beautiful! Who knows if Clio might change now she’s at secondary school? My son has just done the school musical and he has never shown any interest before.

      Post a Reply
  5. Firstly, her hair is amazing even more so because she did it herself!
    Your critique of her panto is just glowing with pride – you can read it in every word on your page. And how lovely that throughout the rehersals she’s been sharing it with you, too.
    No wonder you’re so proud
    xx
    #SSAmazingAchivements

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much 🙂 She’s done brilliantly and I can’t wait to see her again. She’s still got 25 more performances to do!

      Post a Reply
  6. Well done to your girl and all the other performers….You can tell how proud you are by just reading this. You have every right to be! Her hair is AMAZING! I can’t even do that on someone else, never mind myself. lol You have a girl of many talents x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! She did so well 🙂 I can’t do hair like that either. She took over from me when she was 7 because I’m so bad at it! x

      Post a Reply
  7. It sounds like an amazing production, you must be so proud of her! 🙂

    Post a Reply
    • Thank you! It’s absolutely brilliant and I’m very proud 🙂

      Post a Reply
  8. What a proud moment and so lovely that you have recorded it here for you both to look back on. How on earth does she manage to her hair like that???

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! That’s what I like to use my blog for as it would be so easy to forget things, even big things like this.
      As for her hair – I’ve got no idea! She decided to do it herself a couple of years ago and learned from YouTube, but hasn’t looked at it in ages. She just seems to be a natural at it!

      Post a Reply
  9. I love her hair! I do all sorts of plaits for B Lloyd, but there is no way I could do it on my own hair. Very impressive. You must be so proud of her, it sounds like the show is amazing!

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! I’m very proud and she’s a genius when it comes to hair! I have no idea how she does it.

      Post a Reply
  10. Oh goodness, I’m welling up reading this! Such a proud moment, I can only imagine how you must have felt. I’m proud and she’s not my daughter! Such a lovely moment to remember. I hope she carries on being so amazing next week, I’m sure she will 🙂

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much, such a lovely thing to say! I think she’ll probably get better and better as she gets used to it all. I can’t wait to see her again!

      Post a Reply
  11. That must have been an amazingly proud moment – I think I would have been a bit emotional x

    PS I’d be almost as proud of those plaits to be honest 😉

    Post a Reply
    • I was pretty emotional and I can’t wait to see her again.
      Those plaits are amazing! They were definitely the best on the stage. I really don’t know how she does them.

      Post a Reply
  12. How fantastic! I think it’s great when kids seize the opportunity to perform like this. It’s such a departure from what they focus on for so much of their time at school, and it can only be good for supporting their rounded development. Difficult as it is to fit around work schedules, I love going to watch all our kids’ nativity plays and other performances. #loudnproud

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much. It definitely is good for their rounded development. She’s learning all sorts of new skills and learning about a world we knew nothing about before. It’s always worth making time to see the kids’ performances if you can.

      Post a Reply
  13. What a little star in such a huge production. She sounds like a natural and like she loved every second of it. Definitely a very loud and proud moment and I bet you’ll all love telling the stories for time to come. And wow that hair. You know people would pay good money for someone to do that! Summer job maybe? 😉

    Post a Reply
    • Ha ha, good point about the hair! Maybe a business opportunity for the future!
      Thanks, I think we will all remember it as a fantastic experience for a very long time to come.

      Post a Reply
  14. Glad it went so well for her – her hard work has really paid off. I am in awe of the plaiting.

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! The hard work has definitely paid off 🙂 And i have no idea how she manages to do her hair so well!

      Post a Reply
  15. Oh my gosh that sounds so lovely!!! I bet you are so proud. What an amazing time for your girl!!! x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! It was brilliant and still lots of performances to go. I’m so proud of her, it’s a fantastic experience for her. x

      Post a Reply
  16. What an amazing girl you have. I cannot wait to hear how it all goes. What a star and such gorgeous hair x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! She did brilliantly and I can’t wait to see it again! She is amazing at doing hair, I just don’t understand how she can do it so well! x

      Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much, what a lovely thing to say! She did brilliantly and I really am very proud 🙂 x

      Post a Reply
  17. It all sounds absolutely amazing – you must be so proud, what a star! Hope the rest of the run goes as well as this.

    Post a Reply
  18. Wow, what an amazing experience for her, and those plaits are just AMAZING!!

    Post a Reply
  19. Lovely post, Sarah, you always make me feel that I’m right there with you, whether you’re on the touchline, watching ballet or other family activities.
    She did so well and must have been so full of “what do I have to do now and where do I have to be?”
    And her plaits are wonderful!
    Thanks for linking up with #SSAmazingAchievements

    Post a Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Small Steps Amazing Achievements – 9/12/15 » AutismMumma - […] season is upon us and @sarahmo3w shares her daughter’s performance in Cinderella with us (and she plaits to perfection […]

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.