Dancing with the princesses

Who isn’t enchanted by a fairy tale? ... Clay Kelton waved a magic wand and presented a brand new musical he had specially composed for Aditi

If the Brothers Grimm were around they would be smiling and saluting the gargantuan effort that marked Mallya Aditi International School’s musical, The 12 Dancing Princesses, an adaptation from the fairytale they wrote.  The brothers would definitely have joined in the dancing too.

The honours must go to Clay Mathes Kelton who wrote the script, music and lyrics, director Judith Roby Bidapa and music director Evie Kelton, among others, and to the fabulous 150-member cast of students, teachers, alumni, parents, taking their cues with such commendable ease. The names add to the enchantment. The Bald Lady, the Fabulous Singers and Dancers, the Court Fuddy Duddies, Willie the Wizard, the Rock Show Boys, the Monkeys, the Groovy Heralds, Go Go Girls, Incredible Me and the Hottentots, among many many others, formed the huge cast that came together seamlessly on all three evenings (August 26-28) the play was performed, at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. 

 The play was staged in honour of the school’s 25th Anniversary celebrations. As Anne Warrior (Founder-principal) put it, ‘Who isn’t enchanted by a fairy tale? ... Clay Kelton waved a magic wand and presented us with a brand new musical he
had specially composed for Aditi.’The story went like this:
In the beginning a King is born (tiny Camran Lateef ... looking impressive in golden diapers ) and he is bullied by his Big Bad Mother played marvellously by Sukhita Iyer.
The boy king, (Gautam David), wields a magic wand along with his mother – and opens up a world of intrigue and entertainment for the audience. He marries a nobody, Justa (Ahalya Mohan) – much to the horror of his Big Bad Mother – and they have 12 charming princesses. Justa dies in childbirth. The princesses grow up and get ready for their Coming Out Ball. The King realises that his little girls have grown up – a realisation that dawns on him as he watches them dance with gay abandon. The fairy tale continues – the princesses sing , dance and meet boys, even as their overprotective father is taken aback. The girls oppose their father’s plan by taking matters into their own hands. The plot thickens. The ending is a fairy tale one.
The musical scored in so many wonderful ways. From the catchy music to  the cast, the well-made props and costumes (the pile of leaves played by Ahalya Alvares took four days to make, each leaf sewn on individually and the props were made in the school) pointed to the total involvement of the school community. A great production!.
DHNS