Cinderella: A Salsa Fairy Tale
Book and lyrics by Karen Zacarías
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
The Coterie Theatre, March 2025
Director: Vanessa Severo
Lighting Designer: Zan de Spelder
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Costume Designer: Georgianna Londré
Set Designer: Mark Exline
System Processing
Designing a musical without an A1 is tricky - it requires programming hundreds of cues throughout the course of the show to bring mics in, out, up, down, and change their processing to fit the moment. Since the music was tracks with preset timings, I was able to automate almost all of these cues during songs, but that still leaves all of the dialogue scenes of the play. These were only possible with the help of Mackenzie Goodwin-Tran, possibly the best stage manager in the world, firing all of these cues at the correct times.
Designing Magic
In a show with as much incredible music as Deborah Wicks La Puma created for this one, a lot of my job was focused on faithfully bringing her vision to life in the challenging acoustic space in which The Coterie resides. Where I was able to flex my Sound Creation muscles a little more was in the realm of magic. Throughout the show, Padrino and Cinderella's sound motifs centered around natural, pleasant cues, while Rosa's sounds reflected the sleek, shiny, 90's aesthetic present in her dialog and in her costume design.
Photo(s) by Nicole Bissey and courtesy of The Coterie Theatre.