Lea in Cinderella glass slippers

Just because it’s a tale as old as time doesn’t mean we should expect the same thing from Cinderella every time it goes on stage. This is what Bobby Garcia, director of the musicale to be staged July 29 to Aug. 24 at CCP main theater, must have had in mind while plotting the cast’s moves and the crew’s actions.

Thus, he allowed the Fairy godmother (played by Charlie Parker) to put a little variation to her much-loved role.

This time, the Fairy Godmother doesn’t give Cinderella what she wants in one flick of a finger. Cinderella’s savior teaches her ward a lesson or two in discipline and working for what she wants.

“She must bring in something of her own. She must first have self-confidence, for one,” Parker says, careful not to give away the entire story and spoil the fun. This Cinderella, mind you, is smarter than her other counterparts.

Lea Salonga, who plays the title role, agrees.

“She must let her imagination work,” Lea reveals. But like the Fairy Godmother, Lea doesn’t explain just how.

Not giving all the story away is an unwritten law everyone keeps. It’s okay to reveal though, how Lea herself can’t keep a straight face when Cindrella’s stepmother (Julia Cook) and wicked stepsisters (Jen Bechter and Brandy Zarle) launch their tirades against the star of the fairy tale. So vicious are they on stage, and so removed from their real personalities Lea can’t help but feel amused.

She, the Stepmother and the Stepsisters are friends off stage.

“Lea is so nice to work with,” Cook, Bechter and Zarle chorus. But they know it’s their job to make life miserable for her as Cindrella. That’s why they close their eyes to the Lea they know and the Lea they push around as Cinderella.

Lea and her three co-stars may wage a battle of wills on stage, but they laugh together, share stories together, care for each other off stage.

Lea may be the biggest star, but she doesn’t act like one at all.

“Everyone is willing to share what he knows. No one hogs the spotlight,” she says.

What makes it even more special is the fact that Lea happens to be the first Filipina Cinderella. She’s not white or blue-eyed as Julie Andrews and other actresses who have played the popular character years back. The message is loud and clear: You may not be that fair-skinned, but you can still be the star of a big, widely-viewed musicale. A white Prince Charming (Peter Saide) will still fall madly in love with you. And like Cinderella, you will find yourself waltzing in his arms and traipsing forever after with him.

Lea’s waltzes with the Prince are products of dance lessons her director asked her to take. And she herself surprised him with the way she swept across the stage while she fixed her eyes on her Prince Charming.

Those moves are her own; those gestures, loving glances at her Prince, etc., something only Lea can do.

“I purposely didn’t watch any of the Cinderella versions since I want to start from zero. I want to be guided by my instincts,” explains Lea.

In making the role her own, Lea has created a different Cinderella. She’s more imaginative, more attuned with  herself. That’s what Filipinos and audiences all over the world will see once the curtains rise on the musicale. That’s what they will remember, long after the cast has made its final bow and the production crew has called it a day.