BENGALURU: You are never too old to revisit a classic fairy tale like Cinderella. City-based theatre group Prabhath Kalavidaru, which was established in 1939, in association with Versato Ventures, is staging their musical Cinderella: A Musical in Kannada and as well as in Hindi. Harish Prabhath and Deepashree Harish will play as the leads.
Having been performing in the musical since 1977, this is the first time they are showcasing the story in Hindi. “We have been performing other dance dramas like mythological and historical, political subjects in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit and English. But this time, we thought of trying Cinderella in Hindi,” says Harish, about the show which has already been performed over 1,000 times. “We had kept count till 1,074 shows but lost count after!” he quips.
Harish affirms that though a classic fairytale with the story already well-known, they tried to adapt it for locals by introducing a few characters. “The subject is being adapted based on the audience. We have introduced a few characters like Mantrabadi, the godmother. We also have Sabda Devi and Drishti Devi,” he explains.
Having been running the theatre group since 1977, Harish says the musical was always ahead of its time. “Since we started, Cinderella, The Musical was technically quite high. My grandfather directed the first shows incorporating UV lights which were quite new during that time. Now, we are planning to add some aerial acts in the production,” says Harish, adding, “The musical has touched many hearts. Audiences who were with their children for the play told us it was like reminiscing their childhood memories.”
The choreography of the musical is by Hema Prabhath, renowned for the Kannada movie America America. The music for the performance is by Mysore Ananthaswamy and Praveen D Rao, coupled with the vocals of the late Dr S P Balasubrahmanyam.
(Cinderella: A Musical will be performed on December 6 at Prestige Srihari Khoday Centre for Performing Arts. The Kannada version will staged at 3.30pm and the Hindi version at 7.30pm)