There are four shows this week, which will take place at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts at 17 Algonquin Drive. The shows are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m., with a matinee on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free for all shows.

Rogers and Hammerstein’s version of the classic fairytale was first written by the iconic theater writing duo for a 1957 television performance starring Julie Andrews. It has been remade many times since then as film versions, and in 2013 as a Broadway musical.

The moment is bittersweet for the students and for Taylor Prosper, a music teacher at the middle/high school and the music director of this year’s spring musical. He had plans to put on “Cinderella” in the spring of 2020. Needless to say, that production never happened.

“COVID had other plans,” Prosper said. “It’s been really fun putting on the show knowing what we know now, versus what we thought we knew then.”

Savannah Corrow, an 11th grader at Lake Placid High School, rehearses for “Cinderella” at the LPCA on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

The 2020 performance of Cinderella would have been Prosper’s first show at the school. Since then, he’s learned so much about his students and what they are capable of.

Levi Barney has been involved with theater since elementary school. Now, he’s now a senior starring in “Cinderella” as Prince Topher alongside Emma Wylie as the titular character. He said this role is challenging because it has a lot of lines, but working with experienced actors like Wylie has helped.

“Something I enjoy is being able to work with someone that’s easy to feed off of,” Barney said. “For example, if we messed up a scene, she would just go along with it as is and she would make something out of it.”

Barney’s first musical was “The Little Mermaid,” in which he played Chef Louis. One of his favorite roles was in “Matilda,” in which he got to play the very “out of the box” character, Mr. Wormwood. In many ways, musicals are the types of productions he feels most comfortable in. This year, he participated in the fall play for the first time after having performed in several musicals.

“I’d been so scared about it because it’s way different than a musical — it doesn’t have any music,” he said. “So it’s easy to catch your mistakes in a play.”

Maya Garrison and Kelsey McKillip rehearse for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

Each show pushes students out of their comfort zone in new ways. Prosper said he chose this musical in part because he loves the music — it’s an older musical than others they’ve performed and features a more classical singing style.

For senior Kelsey McKillip, her role in this year’s musical is distinctly different from others she’s been cast in before. It’s her favorite part of this character but is also a challenge.

“I’m usually cast as a very mature character, like a mother,” she said. “It’s really challenging because I’m supposed to be really awkward. It works, and I can be awkward, but it’s also kind of like, ‘Am I doing this right?'”

Her character is Gabrielle, one of Cinderella’s stepsisters. The musical begins with “Madame,” the stepmother, trying to set Gabrielle up with the prince. You’ll have to come to the show to see how well that works out. This version of Cinderella, McKillip said, is a little different from what you might think of if you are familiar with the original fairytale.

“When people think of Cinderella, you obviously think of the princess,” she said. “But I like how in this edition — while there’s not the mice and stuff — there are more characters and there’s more development around the characters and I think that helps the interaction between everyone.”

Kiera Bouchard and Levi Barney rehearse for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Grace McIntyre)

Alongside Prosper, LPHS English teacher Brenden Gotham is the assistant director for the show. Maggie Kern is the customer, or “seamstress wizard,” for the show. Emily McConvey is the producer. Prosper wanted to thank Christian “Pepe” Serrano Godn and Jon Donk for their help on the LPCA side.

This show also marks the last year of performances for 15 seniors in the stage crew and cast. Many of these students have been with Prosper throughout the entire time he’s been directing shows at the school, from the pandemic performance pauses until now. Prosper said this group of students has helped the program succeed through their dedication and professionalism.

“What’s really fun about it for me is that as much as I’ve seen them grow, they’ve absolutely helped me grow. Some of them have theater resumes that would put mine to shame,” Prosper said. “It’s been super gratifying and wonderfully collaborative.”

The students have one message for their audience — come to the show.

“I hope they walk away saying it was one of the best musicals they’ve seen at Lake Placid,” Barney said. “We’ve worked really, really hard on it.”