This ‘Cinderella’ Has a Ball With the Stepsisters

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly strikes the funny bone.

So it goes in Greg Atkins’ new version of “Cinderella,” staged by Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater at the Moulton Theater through Sunday. From the moment they sashay on stage, it’s the nasty-looking stepsisters, not lovely Cinderella, who attract attention.

While Atkins and director Joe Lauderdale attempt to balance romance and comedy, the scales tip toward belly laughs. As the stage notes explain, this “Cinderella” is patterned after early English pantomime, an amalgam of slapstick, sly asides and the occasional player in drag.

Terry Christopher and Marc Ravenhill drag with gusto as stepsisters Exzema and Euphoria, respectively. Turned out in deliciously hideous peignoirs and gowns, these two strut and hiss as poor Cinderella (Julie Martens) tries to mollify them and her mean stepmother, played with lots of venom by Tisha Bellantuoni. In the second act, she gives the sisters an etiquette lesson to help them prepare for the grand masked ball.

Cinderella: “And what do you say to the prince when you meet him?”

E & E: “Uhh . . . where’s the buffet?”

The show, the most costly in the Laguna Playhouse’s current youth season, is set in 17th century Venice during Carnivale. Brigitte Harper’s costumes and masks are lavishly trimmed with satin and faux baubles, and Jacquie Moffett’s sets carry through opulent look with a stately castle facade. Wigs by Gretchen Klyver also add an air of elegance, although, frankly, no hairdo could keep our eyes off the stepsisters’ five o’clock shadows.

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Atkins sprinkles the script with sly topical references from several centuries and cultures, from “Romeo and Juliet” (Prince to Cinderella: “Haven’t we met before . . . perhaps at the double funeral in Verona?”) to American junk food (Euphoria, at the ball: “You’ve got to try the bean dip . . . it’s great with the ambrosia salad!”). For keen listeners, most of the lines hit their mark.

As the prince, Brad Bredeweg almost gets lost in the ruckus. But archduke Josef (Joe Lauderdale, who took the role after two young actors had to back out), a genuine hoot as the prince’s minion, manages to occasionally edge him into the limelight. Like her prince, Cinderella plays it straight. But as sweet and compliant as she may be, she’s no doormat, quietly accomplishing her goal to attend the ball.

Which brings us to the godmother question. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm spin on the tale, in which the spirit of a tree Cinderella planted at her mother’s grave comes to her aid, Atkins created an angelic version (played by Stephanie O’Neill) of C’s dead mother. Good mum that she is, she works largely behind the scenes, kicking in with the fairy dust and whisking the couple toward Happily Ever After.

* “Cinderella” continues through Sunday at the Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Performances are Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets: $9-$12. Children under 4 not admitted. (714) 497-2787.

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“Cinderella”

Julie Martens: Cinderella

Tisha Bellantuoni: Stepmother

Terry Christopher: Exzema

Marc Ravenhill: Euphoria

Brad Bredeweg: Prince

Joe Lauderdale: Archduke Josef

Stephanie O’Neill: Fairy godmother

A Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater production. Written by Greg Atkins. Directed by Joe Lauderdale.