- One of the stories told most frequently on stages across our region is "Cinderella."

The Community Theater League in Williamsport gives us a key image with the show poster for their March, 2024 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella".

How about that for a glass slipper?

In September, 2023, Music Box Playhouse in Swoyersville was pleased to present the Broadway musical "Cinderella", longtime home of one of our guests.

In December, 2024, the Scranton Shakespeare Festival adapted "Cinderella" and prepared an original panto version hoping to establish the British tradition here in the States.

And Emmy award-winning lighting designer Dennis M. Size returned to his hometown for the Ballet Theater of Scranton production of "Cinderella" in May of 2019.

There have been many other Cinderellas losing slippers on stages regionwide.

We might ask though, how many times is a shoe or a pair of shoes in the spotlight like that?

The "Wizard of Oz" too, of course, but even when we're aware of ballet dancers and their point shoes, they're not part of the storyline.

They're designed to support the dancers so they can tell the tale.

We are shining the spotlight on shoes and other aspects of stage production that matter very much, but which when they're done so well and are part of an artistic whole, don't necessarily stand out.

We welcome as our guests, Michael Gallagher, board Member Emeritus and former technical director of the Music Box Playhouse in Swoyersville, award-winning set and lighting designer and recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship from the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in recognition of tangible and significant assistance given for furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.

And Megan Esty, a graduate of the University of Scranton with a double major in theater and communications.

She went on to New York where she worked as a freelance dresser wardrobe supervisor and she has since become a full-time production supervisor in the costume department at the Metropolitan Opera.

We'll also meet Stephen Hendrickson, who is retired Tunkhannock.

He's been a production designer and art director in film and television since the 1980s, known for "Wall Street," "Arthur," "the Muppets," "Take Manhattan" and many others.

Welcome Megan and Michael.

We're so glad to have you both with us.

Megan, before we get to the Metropolitan Opera, tell us how you became excited about theater and costumes and props back home here in Scranton.

- Sure, I've always been involved in theater in some way.

I started as a dancer very young.

And my mom is really into community theater and has always been a part of that.

So it just was always in my life.

And I went to school at the University of Scranton and I majored in theater and it was truly the best experience of my life.

And it just fills me with such joy to do it full-time now.

- Wow, did you do tech things when you were at the university?

Did you act, did you do costume the whole spread?

- Yeah, at the University of Scranton, they have a very well-rounded program where even if you want to specialize in technical work, you still do have to perform every now and then.

So I did act once or twice, but I primarily focused on stage management and wardrobe, and working in the costume and wardrobe department was what made me the happiest.

- Now we started out by talking about and playing with the notion of Cinderella and her lost slipper.

The Met has done "Cendrillon" by Massenet and "La Cenerentola" by Rossini over the years, but you are dealing with shoes each and every day at productions where the shoe is not center stage.

What are you responsible for?

- I am a production supervisor at the Metropolitan Opera, and I specialize in the shoes for the chorus men and women, the actor men, the children's chorus, stage hands, and the animal handlers.

So I cover all of those departments and make sure their shoes are in good shape and that they still fit and they're comfortable.

- What about then, what makes a good shoe then?

Because we know about the stresses of whether you're a chorus member or you are a dancing in an opera.

What do you look for?

- We look for well-made shoes (chuckling) that have good support in them.

Some of our foresters or performers have a wider toe box, so sometimes we have to work to get shoes that are wide enough for them, 'cause they stand in these shoes for hours and hours.

Like the operas are relatively long-ish for performances and the rehearsal period is long too.

So we wanna make sure that they're comfortable.

And sometimes we have shoes custom made too, so we'll measure their feet and have shoes made for the performer.

- What about the design of the shoes?

Now you are excited about the upcoming production?

In fact, the day after we talk, tomorrow in this time as we're meeting about the opening soon to be of the Met Premier of "Moby-Dick" by Jake Heggie what about the shoes?

Tell us what you have to do and what you might tell us about the shoes if we go to the HD if it's there.

- The shoes play a very important role in "Moby-Dick."

The are all sailors on a ship, and so the shoes are very distressed and they look worn in.

But "Moby-Dick" was an interesting challenge because the performers have to climb ropes that are 26 feet in the air.

So they wanted the shoes for rehearsal as early as possible so that they could get comfortable climbing in them and making sure that they can take them on and off relatively easily and that they'd be safe.

We have to put safety rubber on the bottom of all the shoes to make sure that there's enough traction to keep the performers safe the entire time.

- What about the research?

Do you, in your position, have to do any research to make sure that the period is right and the image is right of the shoes?

- I don't always do the, we have a resident costume designer who I work with, Sylvia Nolan, so sometimes I'll research out, like sourcing shoes as options to bring to her.

If somebody needs a pair of riding boots or, you know, ankle boots, colonial style shoes, I'll source them and then bring them to our resident designer and she will ultimately make the decision.

Or sometimes she'll source something different and give me that and say, this is what we would like to try for the performer.

So I'll order the shoes and I'll have a shoe fitting for the performer.

- Now you said shoes are important in "Moby-Dick," but we all know the story and Ahab has only one leg.

Is the leg that is not his part of your, well you said he's a principal, so that's not your assignment, but it is key, isn't it, to get comfortable and get him fitted for the wooden leg?

- Yeah, that performer is a principal artist, so he doesn't fall under my bracket, but I have seen Ahab's leg and it's very intricate and interesting how they put it on him.

And I have so much respect for him as an artist because he has to, you know, he just works with one leg and has to balance on his other.

And the leg itself is like a work of art.

It's amazing.

- Wow, wow, Megan, we will come back and maybe ask you about a special, we hope to have time to ask you about a special story behind the scenes story about shoes.

But we have Stephen Hendrickson who has retired to Wyoming County, where he often does marvelous dioramas for the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock.

And he paid a visit to the WVIA radio studio in 2021 to talk about his work in film and TV, and later to give WVIA producer Kris Hendrickson a tour of his miniature stage sets at the Dietrich.