\u2018Cinderella\u2019 musical in Surrey isn\u2019t the version most people know<\/p>\n
Published 7:30 pm Friday, June 19, 2026<\/p>\n
Coming to a Surrey stage this week is a Broadway adaptation of classic musical Cinderella<\/a>, featuring new characters, surprising twists and memorable score by Rodgers & Hammerstein.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the traditional Cinderella that people are used to \u2014 not the Disney version,\u201d noted Samantha Robbins, Langley-based director of Fraser Valley Musical Theatre\u2019s spring production.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has evolved from the old-school Cinderella that was on TV (in 1957) with Julie Andrews, and since then it\u2019s been on Broadway and has developed ever since. For instance, in this one she doesn\u2019t attend one ball, she attends two. It\u2019s quite a big undertaking with a lot of songs. There\u2019s something in it for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Tori Kazemir stars as Ella in Cinderella, opening Friday, June 26 at Surrey Arts Centre\u2019s Main Stage with eight show times until July 5.<\/p>\n Dozens of people are hard at work rehearsing and bringing the show to the stage including cast, crew and other volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the cast alone we\u2019re at close to 30 people including the ensemble, plus all the wonderful people backstage and volunteers who help get into the theatre, move sets during the show, do 50\/50,\u201d Robbins said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big labour of love for a lot of people. The actors audition for us knowing that we\u2019re paying them in smiles,\u201d she added with a laugh, \u201cbut you wouldn\u2019t know it with how much effort and work they\u2019ve all put into it. Not only do they have to learn all these complicated dance numbers and songs, they figure out characters and all that. It\u2019s been an absolute so joy watching them put this show together.\u201d<\/p>\n Many in the cast, crew and orchestra are school teachers, either retired or still working \u2014 close to a third of the cast alone. \u201cWe\u2019ve learned that teaching skills like communication, creativity, leadership, storytelling and collaboration seem to translate naturally to theatre,\u201d said Tamara Jaune, co-choreographer.<\/p>\n Cinderella is staged in memory of music director John Arsenault.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was John\u2019s hope to bring this beautiful show to life with us in Spring 2026, and our creative team is honoured to fulfill that vision in his memory,\u201d the theatre company said in an email to subscribers.<\/p>\n Ashley Trimble, who often performed in Arsenault\u2019s pit orchestras, is in the conductor\u2019s seat for this production.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been many tears as we go through different stages of the show because we know just how much John would have loved and appreciated how the show was coming together,\u201d Robbins said.<\/p>\n Check fvmt.org<\/a> for Cinderella tickets, show times, cast\/crew lists and more, visit the venue box office (purchase.surrey.ca<\/a>) or call 604-501-5580.<\/p>\n Select performances will feature special guest performers in the lobby \u201cto make your visit to the ball even more enchanting.\u201d Meet Ella from Fairest Skye (June 27 at 2 p.m., July 5 at 2 and 7 p.m.) or experience close-up magic with Chris from Geo Magic (June 26, July 2, July 3, July 4 at 7 p.m., also July 5 at 2 p.m.).<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Fraser Valley Musical Theatre has announced Robin Hood! The Panto for staging this fall, followed by Come From Away next spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Cinderella\u2019 musical in Surrey isn\u2019t the version most people know Published 7:30 pm Friday, June 19, 2026 Coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-748791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}