Shubshri Kandiah has been cast in the title role in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Learning that she had landed the role felt like a fairytale in itself, especially after the challenges of COVID, which saw the cancellation of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in which Kandiah had been cast as Jamie’s best friend Pritti Pasha.

“It is incredibly exciting. Cinderella is just such a beautiful, fun show so I am really looking forward to being part of it,” she tells Limelight.

Kandiah will play Ella in the musical, which is being staged professionally in Australia for the first time by Opera Australia and John Frost for Crossroads Live. The role was originated by Julie Andrews when the show premiered on television in 1957.

Shubshri Kandiah. Photograph © Hugh Stewart

“What is so wonderful about the Rodgers and Hammerstein adaption of Cinderella is that she is written to be so in control of her own destiny, which I think is so in tune with today’s society,” says Kandiah.

“The stage adaption for the show only happened in 2013 so it’s really quite a contemporary look at Cinderella, but still keeping all of the things that we love about...