The Cinderella Ballet performances went really well last month.  Both girls had their biggest roles ever and had great performances in all three shows.  The artistic directors who founded the company said it was the best show they had ever done and it was what they had dreamed of. 

I had fun playing Cinderella’s father (Nepotism ain’t so bad — what role could be more natural than playing my daughter’s father?) and as a court gentleman in the ballroom scene.  The rehearsals and the show were a blast.  It is hard to believe it is all over.  No, I didn’t really dance much, I just moved here and there while the girls danced around.  And, despite rumors to the contrary, no tights were used by me in this performance.

More good news: Daughter 1 has been accepted to the trainee program of a professional ballet company!  It is definitely dream-come-true time.  Fifteen years of passion and hard work paid off.  She’ll be training and performing while going to college part time.

Also see It’s a Cinderella Story Part I and Part II.

From the I am not making this up department, I will be playing the role of Cinderella’s father in the Houston Repertoire Ballet’s production of Cinderella  on May 16-17.  My wife is endlessly amazed that I’m doing this because I’m the guy who doesn’t even like to dress up for Halloween.

My oldest daughter will be playing the title role and my youngest has a big role as the Spring Fairy.  Given that I’m the father of Cinderella in real life, I suppose that means I am uniquely qualified for this role.   How could I say no?

The father role is in the first act.  I basically have to act irritated at my nagging wife and obnoxious step-daughters and then I have a nice one-on-one scene with my daughter.  It is just the two of us interacting and dancing for a couple minutes.  I “tell” her (using hand gestures) that she looks like the picture of her real mother (now deceased), then we have a little dance.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I basically stand there and she dances around me.  It is the only time my character is joyful.  He had a great political job until his first wife died, then he married for money.  Bad idea.

My daughter likes to remind me that my character is a pretty lousy dad.  He buys dresses for his step-daughters but not for Cinderella.  Apparently he dies between Act I and Act III because he is nowhere to be found when the Prince arrives with the shoe and then marries her.

I was surprised to find out that I’m in the second act ballroom scene as well, but this time as a different character.  There are six couples doing ballroom moves throughout the act. 

The show is coming together very nicely, with lots of good dancing, acting and humor.  The artistic director and the dancers are so talented and hardworking, and rehearsals are a lot of fun.  It is nice distraction from my day job. 

This will be a lot more challenging than the Nutcracker “Party Dad” gig I’ve done four times.  We won’t have three dozen other people on stage with us and I can’t just blend in.

Dates & times

• Sat. 5/16/2009 at 2:00 PM
• Sat. 5/16/2009 at 7:30 PM
• Sun. 5/17/2009 at 3:00 PM

If you are interested you can order tickets here