The CINDERELLA Files: Director/designer Matt Logan

For Matt Logan, staging a special concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is the culmination of a long-held dream of his to bring just such a production to his hometown of Nashville, perhaps best known as Music City USA. Now, with Nashville rebuilding after devastating floods in early May, the benefit performance for Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman's showHOPE organization is perhaps even more timely -- and it has certainly taken on a deeper meaning and a more compelling resonance for audiences, as well.

Founded by noted Christian music entertainer/producer Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, showHOPE is a worldwide ministry that "mobilizes individuals and communities to care for orphans and provide waiting children with families by giving grants to those adopting."

Originally planned for the Schermerhorn Symphony Center -- home to the Grammy Award-winning Nashville Symphony Orchestra -- Cinderella has been relocated to Allen Arena at David Lipscomb University in the wake of the floods that devastated much of Middle Tennessee and which resulted in serious damage to the Center. Considered by many to be the crown jewel of dowtown Nashville's growing entertaiment complex, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center will undergo extensive repairs while Symphony programs are relocated to other venues across the city.

"We're helping to bring awareness and attention to orphan care across the globe with this production," explains Logan, who doubles as director and production designer for Cinderella. "We wanted to do soemthing unique and different."

A graduate of Nashville's Christ Presbyterian Academy, Logan had a successful post-college career in New York City, which included time spent working on special concert versions of several musicals, including the Actors' Fund benefit staging of On the 20th Century, featuring Marin Mazzie.

"Working on the production of similar events in New York gave me the unique opportunity to learn the inside story of how they did these shows," Logan says. "I've always wanted to do something like that in Nashville, which is the perfect setting for such a concert. The talent pool here is ridiculously strong and deep."

Working with the Chapmans --  who have long wanted to come up with a special entertainment offering for Nashville to showcase the work of showHOPE, while thanking the local community for its unflagging support of their efforts -- Logan offered his vision for that special evening of performance.

"I had a list of several musicals that I presented to them," he recalls. "But, ironically, Cinderella wasn't on the list."

Logan was looking at show that would include opportunities for more child actors to perform, like Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music.

"It was actually Steven's idea to do Cinderella, because that show has such meaning for him and the family," Logan maintains. "It's a show they love; his daughters have long been fans of the TV version that starred Brandi."

Even more compelling is the fact that one of Steven Curtis Chapman's best-known songs is also called "Cinderella" (from his 2008 project, This Moment), which was inspired by his two youngest daughters, Stevey Joy and Maria Sue, both of whom were adopted from China. With Maria's tragic death in May, 2008, the story of both the song and the musical of Cinderella makes the event, as well as the work of showHOPE, more poignant than ever.

The Chapmans see the May 14 event as the perfect way to honor the life and memory of Maria (whose birthday was May 13), while also celebrating the mission of their organization that exists to help orphaned children around the world. In addition to providing grants to parents hoping to adopt children (in 2009, showHOPE celebrated the awarding of its 2000th financial grant, affecting the lives of children from 41 different countries and the United States), showHOPE is also the catalyst behind the building of Maria's Big House of Hope, a six-story facility located in Luoyang, China, which provides surgeries and medical care for special needs orphans in that country.

"We started brainstroming about three years ago and of all the shows we were considering, Cinderella was the most significant to the family since the loss of Maria. Steven was the first to bring it up," Logan says.

As he looked more closely at Cinderella, Logan discovered than a newer adaptation, incorporating changes made for the recent TV version, was somewhat more "suprising," making the show a more relevant, more apropos choice for the showHOPE celebration.

"For example, adding 'The Sweetest Sounds' [originally included in Rodgers and Hammerstein's No Strings] to the score and including narration by the Fairy Godmother make it more relevant to showHOPE's mission," he contends. "Adapting the movie script for the stage give us a portal into something different than audiences will recognize, but which is different from what they've seen before."

Heather Headley, Alli Mauzey, Jodi Benson and Anthony Federov headline the cast for the star-studded concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, set for Friday, May 14, at David Lipscomb University's Allen Arena. They will be joined by a cast of Nashville theatre luminaries - and featuring BeBe Winans and Nashville native Jake Speck, currently on Broadway in Jersey Boys - Cinderella is the spring celebration of the locally based showHOPE organization, which hopes to bring both attention and awareness to its efforts across the globe.

Tony Award- and Grammy Award-winner Headley (The Lion King, Aida) will play the role of the Fairy Godmother in the Nashville production, with Tony nominee Mauzey (Cry-Baby), starring in the title role. Benson, who first came to national attention as the voice of Disney's The Little Mermaid on film, was a Tony nominee for Crazy for You, and will play the role of The Queen.

Federov, a fourth season finalist on American Idol, has appeared off-Broadway in The Fantasticks, and will sing the role of Prince Christopher at Allen Arena. Speck, who first gained local notice for performances at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre before going on to New York City where he now is a member of the Jersey Boys company, will play Lionel, with Grammy Award-winning gospel singer BeBe Winans as The King.

Among Nashville actors performing in Cinderella are Nan Gurley as The Stepmother, with Carolyn German and Bonnie Keen as the Stepsisters, along with Jeff Boyet, Ciaran McCarthy, Aleta Myles, Ashley McCarthy, Laurie Gregoire, Mike Baum and Will Sevier, among others.

The Grammy Award-winning Nashville Symphony Orchestra will provide the musical accompaniment for the production, which is being designed by Logan and which, he promises, will include some surprising and innovative touches to capture the "magic" of Cinderella for audiences.

Ticket prices ranged from $30 to $130 and are available at David Lipscomb University's Allen Arena box office, online at www.showhope.org or by calling (615) 966-7075.

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