By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Lively music fills the room, a colorful backdrop encompasses the stage and the commotion begins. It’s a circus of marionettes—literally. Enter circus animals, P.T. Barnum, a not-so-nice Ringmistress with jealous daughters, a handsome prince and, of course, Cinderella—a beautiful and kind circus artist with rather oversized feet, who is made to cook and clean and must practice her tightrope walking skills in the moonlight for an audience of forest critters.

The Center for Puppetry Arts’ Cinderella Della Circus by Jon Ludwig is an original take on a classic fairy tale and just one of the on-going classic tales the Center adopts for the marionette stage each season.

I first visited the Center about 30 years ago—not long after it first opened. Most of those visits were with a full house of school groups. This time around, I took Brianna on a Saturday afternoon where a number of parents like myself were looking for a good inside activity on a hot June day. Seat selection was on a first-come, first-serve basis with the first couple of rows reserved for (more…)