Oh! and regarding budget! This is one of the things we "splurged" on. The Cindy's act 2 ball gown was an inexpensive Quinceañera from Amazon. Searching for that type of dress got me way more options of the style I was looking for. I want to say it was just around $100...so $200 total since we bought two of them. We had a blue "80's" style prom dress in costume storage that we turned into Cinderella's mother's dress that she "finds" and was used as the transformation dress. The one Cindy pulls from the trunk along with some spare fabric was another, very similar blue dress....just used as s prop for that scene...never actually worn.
The other "splurge" we did was the carriage. Per someone else's post on this discussion board, found a youth canopy bed that <g class="gr_ gr_2088 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="2088" data-gr-id="2088">look</g> like a pumpkin. Fancied it up with twinkling LED lights and some orange tulle....put it on a wagon/platform for the "horses" to pull. It worked out perfectly and looked great dead center stage at the end of act 1 with the lights faded as it sat there twinkling with the FG standing next to it and the curtains closing. We then raffled the bed off at intermission of the last show (not necessary to be present to win). Charged $5 per ticket...so, basically covered the cost of the things used to create the carriage plus a little extra. So, a little fundraiser there.
Another thing we did was sell "hugs & kisses" during intermission. These are little packets of 4 Hershey's kisses that people can buy, put a little note on and send back to the cast & crew. A parent also had a great idea to sell little key chain trinkets that were based on the theme of the show. We found very inexpensive bulk charms for a pumpkin carriage, a "glass" slipper (clear plastic, of course), a crown, a magic wand. I think there were a cat and mouse charms, too.
The parent was a bit crafty and had jewelry stuff, so she'd "make" the key chains to order (the cast & crew ATE them up...she let them buy ahead of time). $5 got you a key chain with 1 charm...if you wanted more charms, it was $1 per additional charm. I think she also did necklaces on an inexpensive cord. But pretty sure you can find keychains with all of those types of charms on them on Amazon in bulk for cheap and wouldn't have to do the "to order" thing. We spent around $300 for those supplies BUT then made $300 when all said and done...so, covered the cost of the supplies and then pretty much what we spent on Cinderella's ballgown and transformation dress.
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Lynda Gibson
Director
Troupe 2829
Flushing High School
Junior Troupe 88305
Flushing Middle School
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-06-2019 06:31
From: Lynda Gibson
Subject: Cinderella Costumes
Hi,
We did the R&H Cinderella (Enchanted Edition) last year and I made the decision to base the "transformation" dress on the dress that the Cinderella repurposes to go to the ball (her mother's dress that she finds in the trunk). The script calls for Cinderella to come out in the dress she's fixed up....the steps ruin it by ripping things off of it....and then Cinderella is supposed to take that dress OFF and get back into her rags (the transformation version) ON STAGE<g class="gr_ gr_729 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation multiReplace" id="729" data-gr-id="729">....</g>OR run off stage after she puts her rags back on and <g class="gr_ gr_909 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="909" data-gr-id="909">have</g> the fastest quick change EVER to get int the transformation version of her rags costume.
It worked out really well how we did it. The step-mother ripped off the overskirt. Each step-sister ripped off a sleeve. That left Cinderella in the bodice of the ruined dress with the "underskirt" and panniers. This is what the ball gown was hidden in. The shoulders of the bodice on the ruined had velcro on them and down each side seam. So, when Cinderella spun around as the Fairy Godmother worked her magic, the actress crossed her arms in front of her <g class="gr_ gr_1951 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="1951" data-gr-id="1951">then</g> when her back was to the audience, she pulled the front of the bodice down. It was attached to the UNDER side of the skirt of the magic ballgown, so as she spun and the magic ballgown skirt unfolded, the old bodice disappeared under the magic dress. We bought 2 of the final ballgown dress. One to make into the transformation dress and the second one the actress changed into during intermission so we could add more crinoline under the skirt to make <g class="gr_ gr_3974 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="3974" data-gr-id="3974">if</g> fuller (and so old bodice hiding under the skirt wasn't accidentally seen as she twirled and waltzed).
The mice and cat came out to comfort Cinderella during the little reprise and tried to help "fix it" before they ran off stage to go to mother's tree. FG gave Cindy the shoes and a shoulder "shrug" that came out in the carriage. The shoulder shrug was because the bare shoulder in the ball scene didn't look quite right with all of the other costumes, so we added a shoulder shrug to the act 2 version of the ball gown.
This is the video I showed my seamstress to help her out. She didn't like the front release, so devised the rip away shoulders and sides. Personally, I thought the video made it look pretty easy to do the way it shows....but I'm not a sewer....so, what do I know! In any case, it ended up great and got "Oh! Wow!" every night.
How to make a transforming Cinderella dress - easy! (Prototype)
Can't believe I never got a video of our dress! But I do have a few pictures.
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Lynda Gibson
Director
Troupe 2829
Flushing High School
Junior Troupe 88305
Flushing Middle School
Original Message:
Sent: 02-05-2019 08:38
From: Cherie Firmin
Subject: Cinderella Costumes
Hey guys!
Our Spring Musical this year is R and H's Cinderella. When we did this show in the early 2000's, the magic of the Broadway reboot had not hit audiences yet. There wasn't so much pressure to wow audiences with the costumes. But this time around I'm feeling the pressure to put some wow factor costumes on stage. But, my strongest seamstress parents have graduated, and our budget is tight this year. So, if anyone has some tricks to share on inexpensive and easy to build Cinderella costume magic, I'm all ears!!!
Thanks
Cherie Ducote Firmin
Mandeville High School Talented Theatre I/III Teacher
MHS Drama Club Sponsor
La. State Thespian Board Member/STO Adviser
Incoming La. Thespian Co-Chapter Director
St. Tammany Parish Public School System
985.626.5225
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