arts&life
theater
Renaissance
Woman
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Erin J. Weinberger
does it all: studies
Torah, surfs,
massage therapy
— and dances and
sings in Cinderella
PHOTO CREDIT PHOTO BY CAROL ROSEGG
at the Fisher .
E
rin J. Weinberger’s fam-
ily likes to tell people
that she was destined to
become a dancer. After all, she
was born on the same day of
the month, albeit some 80 years
later, as the late film and stage
dance icon Gene Kelly.
Like Kelly, Weinberger also
sings and acts, and she soon will
show her talents as a member
of the ensemble of Rodgers +
Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which
will be performed March 13-18
at the Fisher Theatre.
TOP: Erin J. Weinberger. ABOVE:
Tatyana Lubov and Louis Griffin
(center) and the cast of Rodgers +
Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
details
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
Cinderella runs March 13-18
at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit.
Tickets start at $35.
(313) 872-1000;
broadwayindetroit.com.
Also an understudy for two
characters, Weinberger could
be seen by Metro Detroiters in
either role. She has prepared to
portray Madame, the vain and
tyrannical stepmother whose
concern is for her two birth
daughters, and Charlotte, a
cruel stepsister who sometimes
comes across as a bit of a clown.
“I started dancing when I
was 2, and I never stopped,”
says Weinberger, 23, about to
make her first appearance on
a Michigan stage. “I got into
theater in middle school; and
for high school, I started home
school so I could perform pro-
fessionally in my own town
[Sarasota].”
After that, Weinberger went
to school for two years for musi-
cal theater at Wilkes University
in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., before
moving to New York City.
This musical version of
Cinderella first was developed
for television in 1957 and
starred a young Julie Andrews.
It was written to give the main
character, Ella, a more active
presence in her own fate and to
portray the Prince as less ideal.
While the storyline still has the
pumpkin, glass slippers and
beautiful ball, there are creative
twists as Cinderella becomes a
contemporary-style force in a
fairy tale world.
Playwright Douglas Carter
Beane says he went to the origi-
nal source, Charles Perrault’s
1697 fairy tale, for inspiration.
He found it a thinly veiled satire
of French politics and picked up
on the themes.
Since Richard Rodgers
(who was Jewish) and Oscar
Hammerstein (his father
was Jewish but he was raised
Episcopalian) had only written
songs for a 90-minute television
musical, Beane looked for more
material through the duo’s song
catalog to fill out the stage ver-
sion. In addition to the numbers
specifically written for the show
— such as “In My Own Little
Corner,” “Ten Minutes Ago” and
“Do I Love You Because You’re
Beautiful?” — he included “Me,
Who Am I?” cut from Me and
Juliet and “There’s Music in You”
from the film Main Street to
Broadway.
“This production is extremely
close to my heart because of
how it spreads kindness and
love throughout the audience,
young and old,” Weinberger
says of the Tony Award-winning
musical launched for Broadway
in 2013. “I love Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s music.
“I feel like my voice [mezzo-
soprano] is a little more classic
musical theater instead of the
more contemporary style so
singing this music every single
time brings me so much joy. My
favorite song is ‘Loneliness of
Evening,’ a song Prince Topher
sings as Ella makes a small
appearance in it; their singing
it together is my favorite part of
the show.”
Weinberger has joined a
10-month tour that makes for
the fourth year the production
is on the road. Her recent the-
ater credits include Beauty and
the Beast at the Fireside Theatre
in Wisconsin and Guys and Dolls
at the Asolo Repertory Theatre
in Florida.
When she was 15, Weinberger
was cast as Chava in a produc-
tion of Fiddler on the Roof at the
Players Theatre in Sarasota.
“I attended a Jewish day
school and had a bat mitzvah,”
she says. “Whenever I go home,
I love to have meetings with my
rabbi to catch up and discuss
the Talmud and the way that
my life revolves and relates to
Judaism.”
Weinberger, who attended
the Broadway Dance Center
Summer Professional Semester,
has concentrated on her dance
talents in productions for
jn
the Manhattan Movement &
Arts Center; but her largest
audience came on television
through participation in Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade — this
time as a stilts walker.
“A friend asked me if I wanted
to be a stilts walker, and I said
‘yes,’” she explains. “I studied
with Maria Kent at NYC Stilts,
and I’ve stilted in many different
venues.”
Strictly for fun, she calls herself
a “beach girl,” the result of grow-
ing up in Sarasota. She enjoys an
array of water sports, including
kayaking and paddle boarding.
Away from the water, she likes
working out and cooking.
When Weinberger moved to
New York, her mother suggested
that she keep studying, and
she chose to pursue a second
career that also keeps her mov-
ing. Through instruction at the
Cortiva Institute — Massage
Therapy Schools, she is now
fully licensed and geared up to
earn her way by filling in the
hours between theatrical place-
ments.
That second career deci-
sion turned out to be a bonus
for her own wellbeing and the
wellbeing of her professional
colleagues.
“I am able to make my own
schedule because I have my own
business,” explains Weinberger,
whose boyfriend of four years
is supportive of all her inter-
ests. “I have to take a break
from massaging on tour, but it
has changed how I am able to
move my body. I certainly help
people in the cast of Rodgers +
Hammerstein’s Cinderella with
little things.” •
March 8 • 2018
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