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    Backstage at the Hobby Center

    Costume magic: Colorful award-winning designs are the star of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

    Bernadette Verzosa
    Bernadette Verzosa, ParentsPost.com
    Jun 3, 2015 | 12:38 pm

    Poof! With a wave of her magic wand, the fairy godmother turned Cinderella’s rags into a ball gown. It happened in an instant — and on stage — for everyone in the audience to witness.

    How could such a dramatic and complete transformation in Rodgers + Hammerstein’sCinderella take place in plain sight? The answer is a well-guarded secret that lies within the seams and stitches plotted by legendary costume designer William Ivey Long.

    Long won his sixth Tony Award for his brilliant set of ornate palace garb, period peasant wear and lavish dresses trimmed with ribbons and lace and embroidery. But beyond conceptualizing the more than 330 beautiful costumes for the cast, Long infused innovative elements into some of his creations, especially the costumes worn by Cinderella and her fairy godmother. The technical and practical details allow the two characters to essentially change costumes on stage, adding an unexpected and delightful dimension to the presentation, a truly magical moment.

    A large part of the magic of this show is the costumes. "It’s a lot of fun because the people have come to see the magic,” says Kecia Lewis who plays Marie, the fairy godmother, in the musical based on the classic fairy tale. Theater Under The Stars is presenting the show at the Hobby Center through June 7.

    "I transform from a beggar woman, Crazy Marie, a crazy lady, into the fairy godmother – and you see me do it but you don’t know how I did it. Being a part of something where I get to magically transform in front of your eyes, even just rehearsing that was very thrilling,” says Lewis.

    “That’s probably the scariest part of performing the show, not the flying. I fly in the show and that’s fun but the scariest part of the show is the transformation because the transformation has to be right everyday.”

    Backstage costume tour

    With all the hype surrounding the costumes, I wanted a closer look. And I wanted to investigate with the biggest fan of musical theater I know — my 7-year-old daughter Sasha.

    A few hours before we were scheduled to watch the show, we got a chance to admire the costumes backstage at the Hobby Center, courtesy of TUTS.

    “Some of these dresses weigh up to 25 pounds. So imagine trying to move gracefully on stage with that heavy load,” Lewis says.

    Our costume tour guide was the fairy godmother herself, Kecia Lewis. With her rich and resonant voice, she shared theater stories in her wise, fairy godmotherly way and Sasha was immediately under her spell.

    Lewis showed us the fancy dresses that sparkled and shimmered on the racks — bursts of turquoise, orange, lilac and lime that we would later see swirling in the castle ballroom scene. Sasha was enamored with the gorgeous gowns.

    Lewis also showed us the glamorous wardrobes of Cinderella’s stepsisters and stepmother complete with the panniers and hip pads that would be layered underneath. “Some of these dresses weigh up to 25 pounds. So imagine trying to move gracefully on stage with that heavy load,” she says.

    Lewis explained the long process to the final fitting. “William Ivey Long spends time with you and gets to know your personality and color preferences. He wants to incorporate what makes you feel good on stage into the costumes,” Lewis says.

    With the new insight from a theater insider, Sasha and I took our seats that night, prepared to catch Cinderella and her fairy godmother during their transformations. We reminded ourselves not to blink.

    At the stroke of midnight, after an evening of dancing with the prince, Cinderella spins and her ball gown turns back into a peasant dress.

    “How did they do that, Momma?” Sasha asked in wondrous disbelief. Then she decided, “I know, I will audition for Cinderella, and even if I’m not Cinderella, I will rehearse with her so I can find out their secret.”

    How it happened remains a mystery – even to us. Poof!

    -----------------------

    Bernadette Verzosa is founder and editor of ParentsPost.

    The production of Cinderella at the Hobby Center has more than 350 costumes.

    Cinderella at TUTS stage performance 2
      
    Photo courtesy of TUTS
    The production of Cinderella at the Hobby Center has more than 350 costumes.
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    Metallica concert review

    Heavy metal legends Metallica roll into Houston with thunderous riffs

    Craig Hlavaty
    Jun 15, 2025 | 12:59 am
    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
    Photo by Brittaney Penney
    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

    Heavy metal is a baton that has been passed on for generations now. Now, more than ever, metal has turned into family entertainment. On Saturday night at NRG Stadium, the Metallica family reunion left ears ringing and hearts full, with a few scorch marks from hellacious pyro.

    Metallica — 44 years into this — is a frenetic, multigenerational machine. Four gray hairs from San Francisco that can still pack out a football stadium. The current lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo is the longest-running one in the band’s history.

    Hetfield’s frenzied screech from 1981 is now a smoky, barrel-chested growl. Hammett’s metallic, exploratory guitar lines are a part of the metal vocabulary, and Trujillo — still the new guy — has been the sturdy thunder below it all. Urlich’s reliable drumming is its stadium-honed heart.

    Openers Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera provided direct support, with ST serving as a bracing thrash appetizer. Keeping it all in the family, Trujillo’s 21-year-old son Tye is now playing bass for ST, just as Robert did in the ‘90s. The band’s set whizzed by before most fans were able to enter the building, but those who arrived early witnessed a masterclass in ‘80s hardcore thrash.

    Texas sludge legends Pantera have been celebrating the lives of departed brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul since the group reformed in 2022. Collapsing in acrimony in 2001, the band and its fans never got a proper sendoff, and, with the violent shooting death of Dimebag and Paul’s death due to heart disease, the current lineup only features two original members in lead singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown. Guitar hero Zakk Wyle, stepping into Dimebag’s shoes, is a Hall Of Fame avatar for Dimebag, perhaps the only living human that could have delivered the appropriate riffs. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante now handles drumming duties.

    It’s 2025, and I’m watching a Pantera pit on the floor of NRG Stadium from a comfortable seat in the end zone. Anselmo, seemingly ageless, stalked Metallica’s sprawling, jaggedly circular stage barefoot and howling, splitting the difference between Henry Rollins and Rob Halford. Heathen anthems “Walk” and “Cowboys from Hell” still slice with precision, just as they sounded in the adjacent Astroarena in 1995.

    Before Metallica hit the stage around 9 pm, bored fans passed the time by doing the wave in NRG Stadium, but it only made a few laps before fizzling out.

    Kicking off with “Creeping Death” from 1984’s Ride The Lightning, Metallica reveled in rumbling NRG Stadium’s foundations.

    “For Whom The Bell Tolls” sounds as apocalyptic as ever, one of the early highlights of the night. The band has embraced it’s Load and Reload era recently, with the latter’s “The Memory Remains” and “Fuel” making setlist appearances. The crowd deftly filled in for the late Marianne Faithfull during the former. There’s still a lot of love for ‘90s eyeliner Metallica.

    Metallica’s 2023 album 72 Seasons saw the quartet reconvening for a loose and unrelenting collection of songs. “Lux Æterna” and “If Darkness Had a Son” have a slithery swing to them, borne from those famous Metallica jam sessions that sometimes appear on YouTube.

    1991’s “Nothing Else Matters” is still a romantic ballad for metalheads, a Gen X wedding staple.

    Few hard rock bands can still pack a football stadium in 2025, which makes Metallica among the last of a dying breed. All in their early ‘60s, they’re not unlike a performance hot rod team with 30 or so souped-up machines in the garage that only they know how to drive. They just have to take a few more breaks than they used to in between laps. Those four guys together still make magic via extremely loud noises.

    Closing out with “Master of Puppets and “Enter Sandman,” Metallica pushed Houstonians out into a humid Saturday night, covered in each other’s sweat, looking forward to the next Metallica family reunion.

    Setlist

    Creeping Death
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Ride the Lightning
    The Memory Remains
    Lux Æterna
    If Darkness Had a Son
    Kirk and Rob Doodle ("Hit the Lights" and ZZ Top's "La Grange")
    The Day That Never Comes
    Fuel
    Orion
    Nothing Else Matters
    Sad but True
    One
    Seek & Destroy
    Master of Puppets
    Enter Sandman

    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
      

    Photo by Brittaney Penney

    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

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