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Truth be told, Cinderella’s stepsister Charlotte was never wicked or evil, she was simply “misinformed” somewhere along the way, according to the actress who plays her.
Aymee Garcia returns to New Orleans Oct. 27-31 in “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” She previously appeared locally in the roles of Mama Bear and Gingy in “Shrek the Musical” and Madame Thenardier in the “Les Miserables” Broadway Across America tours.
“I’m so excited about being [in New Orleans] for Halloween,” Garcia said from her Louisville hotel room. She’d been watching the “Price is Right,” killing time before the night’s performance and, admittedly, failing miserably at guessing prices. “The whole cast is in the midst of trying to get their costumes together.”
But her outfit du jour is for her character Charlotte, the gal determined to give her beloved stepsister, Cinderella, grief.
“Charlotte isn’t really wicked; she’s just misinformed,” Garcia muses. “She’s gotten her way way too much, so she’s more of a brat than an evil person.”
The classic tale of a young lady raised by a less-than-loving stepmother in the wake of her father’s death includes all the transformations Disney audiences have come to expect – the fairy godmother, the pumpkin, the glass slipper, the masked ball and the memorable songs.
Rodgers and Hammerstein – the team behind “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music” – penned all the hits from this Tony Award-winning musical, including “My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible” and “Ten Minutes Ago.” But it’s the “Stepsister’s Lament” that Garcia waits for each night … it’s her big moment.
“I love this show,” Garcia told Gumbo. “It’s the first show I get to dress up like a girl. I get to wear pink and dress pretty.”
But it wasn’t always that way. The Miami native-turned-New Yorker said the show rankled her feminist side initially. “Then I learned the story we are telling,” she said of the contemporary updates. “There are new twists. It’s not just about a prince falling in love with a makeover. It’s about [Cinderella] being kind. It’s what’s inside that attracts him.
“The show is kind and marvelous and forgiving,” Garcia explained. “It makes more sense. And it’s a very important message to send kids home with. It’s not just about how you look; it’s about who you are.”
“Cinderella” has played to packed theatres since the tour launched. The cast quickly discovered the princess culture is alive and well in today’s society.
“It’s so adorable to look out at our audiences,”
Garcia said. “They’re dressed to the nines. It’s princess costumes, tiaras and crowns for days. We even see tiaras that light up. It’s so fun to see people get so excited about the show.”
A natural-born artist, Garcia gravitated toward the stage as a freshman in high school after randomly deciding to give theatre a try. It was a perfect fit.
“I never grew up a shy kid; I’m Hispanic,” she chides. And the stage was always calling. “Even when I was little, I remember watching ‘The Little Rascals’ and thinking I was Darla Hood. They would always put on these plays, and I was in awe.”
After her mother nixed clown school, Garcia settled on attending Miami-Dade Community College and pursuing theatre. “I took almost every single acting class they offered twice.”
A theatre instructor was the one to push Garcia out of the nest, urging her to begin trying out for regional plays. Garcia landed various roles – “regional stuff, children’s theatre and puppetry.”
Her first break came as Madame Thenardier’s understudy in the national tour of “Les Miserables.” Two weeks after landing the part, she was in Hawaii learning the show.
“That’s where I really, really started learning about the business,” Garcia said.
