Although her name will not be known until the ultimate cast list is posted on The Acting Company's web site and perhaps in the showcard case at the theater itself on B Street in Yuba City, the decision to include the little girl in velvet and pearls in the Cinderella cast is final.

The nervous eight- or nine-year-old blondie in a black tea dress and Sunday pearls was one of some 16 to 20 candidates who braved competitions for a handful of supernumerary roles as assorted singing mice and dancing pumpkins in the forthcoming revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1950s Broadway musical.

She was one of maybe a half-dozen actor-singer-dancers eventually picked after two evening auditions for the newest rendition of the classic fairy tale of youthful metamorphosis.

The show emanates from the Marysville Charter Academy of the Arts. Six performances are scheduled at The Acting Company theater on B Street in Yuba City Dec. 9-12 and Dec. 18-19.

Director Wendie Marks made the final selections Tuesday night, with some input from MCAA students and cast members. A Broadway-trained expert, Marks had a few artistic twists in mind.

How about the evil stepmother? How did she see that role being played?

“I see her as something of an alcoholic,” Marks said, conjuring up the delightful vision of a slightly sloshed Margaret Rutherford – martini glass in hand, hat askew – energetically demanding that poor Cinderella sweep out the fireplace.

Altogether, Marks seemed to be an unusually perceptive, open and democratic director.

“What about this one?” Marks asked as she leafed through the forms candidates had filled out and spoke a name.

“She’s good,” cast members Austin Dixon, Dahni Trujillo and Kenni Fayette might offer.

Occasionally, when a name came up, the faintest shrug or undecided grimace might pass through the ad hoc advisory group and steer the selection on to another candidate.

“Well, that does it. Who’s going to type up the list and post it?”

“I will,” offered one boy. The next day was Project Day at MCAA and he’d do it then.

Before disbanding for the evening, Ms. Marks offered one more comment. It was a vague but up-front plea for assistance cloaked in the guise of a wisecrack.

Marks made it clear she needed and expected help with responding to the large number special requests and unlikely events that inevitably crop up wherever and whenever child actors assemble.

“I’m telling you now, I don’t do kids,” Marks admitted honestly.