Montgomery High School to enchant in ‘Cinderella,’ its first musical in 4 years;

As Caroline Gruenbaum twirled, her patchwork dress seemed to magically transform into a sparkling gown before everyone’s eyes.

The kids who filled the Yulupa Elementary School multipurpose were enchanted, to say the least.

They gasped, jumped up and down and some even fell over with excitement as Gruenbaum, 18, and her co-star Chris Rueda, 17, performed a preview of “Cinderella,” Montgomery High School’s first musical since before the pandemic.

Chris Schloemp, who leads the drama production, has been teaching at Montgomery High for 28 years. He inherited the musical program in 2017 from his predecessor, Sue Bryne, board member at the 6th Street Playhouse.

But when the pandemic hit and campuses shut down, the musical productions halted. Band, choir and other musical classes became a true struggle to teach virtually, with student disengagement and audio lag.

While most audiences are understanding of a high school level acting performance, they’re not as forgiving when it comes to music, Schloemp said. Montgomery teachers from all the arts departments wanted to make sure students felt prepared and confident to perform in a musical.

This year they’re finally ready.

“I’m just incredibly proud of not only all the students involved, but also my colleagues,” he said. “They’re all doing this. There’s no extra compensation for putting this all together. This is just for the true love of performing.”

While Schloemp is the stage director, he’s joined by several teachers. They include Dana Alexander, who is tasked with musical direction, Matt Perez as the pit band director and Gina Melvin leading the choreography.

“It took a lot to get back to this, and so we wanted to do a musical that was all about transformation, all about joy, love and people coming together,” Schloemp said.

Like a glass slipper, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was the perfect fit for their musical debut.

Complete with transforming carriages and costumes, the full production will be held April 19-20 and 25-27 at 7 p.m.; and April 21 and 28 at 2 p.m. Ticket sales start Monday and can be found at gofan.co/app/school/CA22992.

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For Gruenbaum (Cinderella) and Rueda (Prince Charming) it’s a dream come true.

“I’ve wanted to be the lead in the Montgomery High musical for six years, so I finally, finally got it,” Gruenbaum said.

“Our programs have really shuttered in numbers by COVID,” she said. ”People weren’t as willing to step out of their comfort zone.“

Gruenbaum attended Yulupa, an elementary school in the Bennett Valley School District, which feeds into Santa Rosa City Schools. She said it feels special to get to perform in her old school in front of some of her former teachers. She even guided some of them in a bowing and curtsying contest on the stage in front of their students.

“When else are you going to get to do something like that?” She said. “It’s such a beautiful art form because it forms connections with the whole community.”

Molly Lourenco, who hugged her former student before shuffling hoards of excited kids to their classes, said she always knew Gruenbaum would do something important.

“Seeing her, it makes me feel so nostalgic and proud of her,” Lourenco said.

Gruenbaum’s dad, David Gruenbaum, said he is proud of her as well, and happy to see the school come together in a positive spotlight.

Rueda, who wore a white jacket and trousers with gold accents and a silver crown said it was “heartwarming“ to see the young boys interested in the drama production.

“I remember one kid like followed me over here just like with his mouth agape — It was so sweet,” he said. “Some kid after that said ‘I’m your biggest fan.’”

Schloemp said he’s proud of Rueda for stepping up to be Prince Charming.

“Being a Latino young man, I told him this is this is such an important thing in terms of representation, for young Hispanic boys to be able to see ‘I can be the prince too.’”

“It’s just sweetness all around,“ Schloemp said. ”And it’s just especially nice — I’m getting kind of teared up just thinking about how much negativity has been surrounding Montgomery High School over the last year — to have this is really nice.“

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter,) @alana_minkler.