Jessenia Michei Ingram, Joslyn Cortes and Adam Levia (Photo by Robert Huskey/SCR)
Reviewed by Joel Beers
South Coast Repertory
Through March 8
RECOMMENDED
Sophia Barajas and Joslynn Cortes (Photo by Robert Huskey/SCR)
Imagine watching Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier square off in a three-round exhibition at a county fair; handing Lin-Manuel Miranda a kazoo and asking him to score a doorbell chime; commissioning Diego Rivera to paint a masterpiece on a postage stamp.
That’s the sensation here, if on a humbler theatrical scale. Neither Karen Zacarías nor Sara Guerrero carries the pop-cultural aura of those heavyweights, but within contemporary American theater their stature is undeniable. Zacarías is among the most prolific and widely produced playwrights of the century, with work staged at institutions ranging from Arena Stage and Goodman Theatre to Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Round House Theatre. She’s also a field-builder, who founded Young Playwrights’ Theater in Washington, D.C., and playing a leadership role in the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Guerrero, based in Orange County, is both director and playwright, and founding artistic director of Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, a Santa Ana company that has long served as an incubator for historically excluded voices by exposing them to storytelling via many paths.
Both are formidable talents with a deep investment in growing the art form. Their craft is everywhere in this fizzy adaptation: a brisk, bilingual musical that’s buoyant, accessible and quietly pointed in its take on cultural identity and belonging. The writing snaps; the staging pops; the performances glow.
And yet, at just under an hour, you leave wanting more. The canvas feels too tight for artists of this reach. You admire the mural — every inch of it — while wishing they’d been given a wall.
The play, which premiered at Imagination Stage in 2011 and has since been produced dozens of times, reimagines the classic fairy tale Cinderella in a contemporary middle school setting. Cenicienta (Joslynn Cortes, a true triple-threat as actor, singer and dancer) is a sixth grader from Puerto Rico who arrives at Pumpkin Grove Middle School to and quickly becomes the target of Rosa Perez (the equally talented Sophia Barajas) the school’s self-appointed queen of cool. When the Fairy Godmother is away at a spa, her underqualified husband, Padrino — the “Almost Fairy Godfather”— (a strong Oscar Fabela) steps in, with predictably chaotic results. Instead of a royal ball, the big event becomes a basketball tryout led by the legendary Coach Prince, who will choose one girl for an elite team. Cenicienta impresses classmates with her math skills, salsa moves, and surprising athletic talent, while Rosa grows increasingly threatened, mocking Cenicienta’s accent, clothes, and love of rice and beans.
Over a fraught weekend, Cenicienta endures Rosa’s jealousy while slowly winning over Rosa’s mother and even Joey (the versatile and quite funny Ryan Nebreja), Rosa’s best (read: only) friend. Padrino attempts a magical transformation intended to glamorize Rosa, but instead dresses her like Cenicienta —forcing Rosa to confront what she’s been ridiculing. Through music, humor, and bilingual flair, rivalry evolves into self-recognition. In the climactic basketball game (expertly pantomined under Guerrero’s direction) , both girls reveal skill and heart and Rosa learns that being fairest of them all depends on character, not popularity. The play celebrates friendship, cultural pride and the courage to embrace one’s identity fully — accent, traditions, and all.
Yes, it runs just under an hour. Yes, you wish for more — longer quarters, more music, more of that sly humor. But this is youth theater, designed to hold young attention spans without talking down to them. In that sense, it’s shrewdly built: all killer, no filler.
And maybe that’s the point. Like a good salsa number, it doesn’t overstay; it hits its rhythm, spins you once, and leaves you wanting the next dance. This Cinderella doesn’t need a glass slipper to make its mark — just a sharp beat, a bright heart, and the confidence to step onto the court exactly as she is.
South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Sat.-Sun., 2 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. Thru March 8. www.scr.org. Running time: one hour with no intermission
