Rehearsal for Cinderella was scheduled fpr 6 p.m. in the theater-auditorium at Marysville High School. Thirty, maybe 35 actors, singers, dancers, stagehands and parents trying to make themselves useful were all there.

Musical director Steve Shepard was at the piano, jabbing at keys, testing for notes certain singers could reach and hold: plink-plink-plink-plink, plank-plank-plank, plonk-plonk-plonk, PLINK!

After a bit of that, Shepard shifted his attention to a different region of the keyboard: plunk-plunk-plunk-plunk, plonk-plink-plink-PLOOOOOOOONK!

Director Wendie Marks wandered. Down to the costumers. Up on the stage. Back to the front to huddle with the actors. Something was muttered, but what? The acoustics in the WPA-era auditorium were horrible. What ummm-mumms-mmms didn’t echo into incompehensibility disappeared into a dead spot.

The theater itself is of that WPA Depression era architectural period, and is, or could be again, a gem. But it is too large.. It seats in the neighborod of 1,100 people, if memory serves . When fill it probably does not ECHO-echo=ECHO-echo quite as badly, muffling and mixing the reverberating syllables in a muddy mess of confusing sounds.

Show producer Linda Plummer and stage mom Patty Fayette were assembling costumes. It is the fantasy Cinderella, of course, so there are lots of shawls and long skirts and medieval vests and Snow Whie chain bodices to give the impression of a mythical kingdom of an indeterminate yesteryear.

The set on stage at the is that of Westside Story, another show in the works. Two large directional arrows are painted onto the stage Floor, suggesting traffic indicators as might be found in upper Manahattan, or the lower Bronx where the story is supposed to occur.

This, then, is a good opportunity to raise again a question that has plagued many since Westside Story opened for the first time on Broadway.

The storyline is a rehash of Romeo and Juilet, the love story-tragedy penned by William Shakespeare. His initials are, or were, WS. Westside Story has the same WS initials. Coincidence? Or an inside joke by playwright and the librettist? You be the judge.

But back to Cinderella.

Cinderella Dahni Trujillo is cast opposite Prince Charming Nicheal Campbell.

Trujillo, we've lauded before. Campell is a fine singer, rather operatic in quality, (remember, the acoustics are awful so if he sounds that good he must be fabulously talented).

Maxwell, Calif, is a small Sacramentio Valley town of 20 streets (counting the alleys), and home to Stadust Dance -- I think.

I'd like to prove it, but to do that I'm going to have to camp on the front doorstep until the proprietress makes an appearance.

Anonymous tipsterds tell me lady has some Big Town credentials somewhere in her past. Which Big Town they tipster can't say for sure, but rumor suggests San Francisco, and maybe even NY. Whichever, it's enough to spark curiosity.

But, as I said, I don't know for sure,since I'm hearing it all second hand -- straight from the horse's ex-wife's first cousin cousin twice removed's mouth, so to speak.

Still, in my continuing quest for fresh showfolk news folk, I'll take what I can get.

A couple of Sunday afternoons ago, I drove to Maxwell, population zip, or thereabouts, and found the Stardust at 100 F Oak Street.

Judging by the signs, the studio is upstairs in the antuique Oddfellows Building in bustling downtown Maxwell. Ground floor sports an insurance salesman's office. Across the street is a java joint. Around the streets, there's nary a car moving.

The hours of operation posted on the glass entry door indicates the studio is open late afternoons and evenigs on maybe four days a week.

Ther's a little ballet offered and a lot of the other, but no tap mentioned (unless I missed it.)

The phone and address of Stardust Dance is listed oin the Internet, but there doesn't seem to be a web page for the place. Not even a weblog. So I have no link to publish for the readers' convenience.

I gave the joint a jingle tonight, but no answer.

So ,I think I'll have to drive over on a weekday night and look up to see if the lights are on and maybe I can buttonhole the intructor and hear her tale.

If I time it right and get lucky, maybe I can make it over there on the night of the new moon, when the whole sky is nothing by stars with the dust from them showerng down on loving dancers everywhere.

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.