Young Cortlandt Actors in 'Cinderella'

Seven Cortlandt students are among the cast members of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella that opened at The Tarrytown Music Hall on Friday, July 29.

“The opening performance went off without a hitch,” said Anya Wallach, producer and artistic director of the Random Farms Kids Theater. “When the Prince tried the slipper on Cinderella, all the kids in the audience stood up so that they could watch closely to see if the slipper fit.”

The musical, which RFKT is staging, includes 120 young actors and actresses in four casts. They come from the tri-state area with backgrounds in theater, film and television.  

The Cortlandt actor and actresses rave about spending their summer rehearsing and performing in the show.

In-house trained by attending 17 RFKT workshops, Jared Peraglia plays the role of Cast A’s Prince Christopher.

"Being on stage acting, singing and dancing feels like I'm home,” said Jared, who graduated from Furnace Woods Elementary School in June.

The Steward of Cast C is 13-year-old Charlotte Athanasidy, who has 20 stage performances and recitals to her credit. She was recently seen in Yorktown Stage’s Fiddler on the Roof with Craig Schulman as a daughter in town (children’s ensemble) and starred as Jeannette in the independent film Indiscretions by Hocus Focus Productions.

“My perfect day consists of nothing but singing and dancing,” Charlotte said.

Perfect for Hayden Gelman, in her first RFKT Mainstage production, is portraying one of the mice, who are “kind and helpful.” The rising fourth grader at Furnace Woods, who played Molly in Annie at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Peekskill, goes home from Cinderella rehearsals singing its songs.

“They just get stuck in my head and then my whole family starts singing them,” Hayden said.

Other mice friends of Cinderella are Kathleen Athanasidy, Jacklyn Kenny and Isabella Zahl.

A dancer since age 2, now 8-year-old Kathleen can be seen in a solo mouse dance. She was also a member of the children’s ensemble in Fiddler on the Roof at Yorktown Stage.

“Being a mouse is lots of fun,” Kathleen said. “It's great to go out and sing and dance for people.”

Isabella Zahl, 7, has performed as a dancer and solo singer in Sleepy Hollow Performing Artists shows and was cast as Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. 

“I am very excited about being part of such a big musical show,”  Isabella said. “My favorite thing to do is sing. It always makes me happy.”

Singing also fills the Cortlandt home of the Kenny family. Seventh-grader Katy (ensemble) is a member of the Blue Mountain Middle School Select Choir and has sung the national anthem on opening day of the Cortlandt National Little League for the past few years. Fourth-grader Jacklyn is a dancer and received theatrical training at RFKT workshops.

For Katy and Jaclyn, in their eighth and first RFKT Mainstage performances, respectively, their current favored tunes to belt out are from Cinderella.
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Cinderella performances continue until Aug. 7. Tickets are available by calling 877-840-0457, through www.tarrytownmusichall.org and at the door.  For more information please visit www.randomfarms.com.