GLEN, N.H. — As the clock strikes 10 a.m., Becca Collins and Jordan Tisdale sit opposite each other in the Story Land changing room, gluing their signature blond wigs into place in unison.
The outfit is a familiar one: a blond updo matched with a headband and a structured baby-blue gown stretching to the floor, narrowly covering the women’s new and improved glass slippers: blue Converse with silky shoelaces.
Unlike in the titular story, when the clock strikes for Collins and Tisdale, their performance is just beginning.
Their dressing room is fit for a princess. Multicolored wigs and shoes are sprawled across the space, as is princess memorabilia and cards and custom artwork from young admirers.
The day has just started for the princesses, and they aim to impress arguably the most demanding audience of all: children.
Tisdale, 22, strolls out of the changing room and into Story Land, her stage for the day. She passes the Three Little Pigs and a gaggle of aghast children on her morning commute to her pumpkin carriage.
The rest of the Story Land staff is in on the act. Her footman, Chris Perley, curtsies before opening the door for her, welcoming and greeting the children as they, too, enter the magical pumpkin.
“The first time she showed up, I thought to myself, ‘Well, what would the pumpkin coach driver do?’ Of course, he would bow to her highness,” Perley said. “We’re putting our best foot forward to keep that magic going.”
Tisdale’s take on Cinderella is carefully choreographed. She walks with her hands crossed in front of her, her steps buoyant and deliberate. But it is her voice that marks the biggest transformation. She raises it several octaves, creating an iridescent, sing-song princess voice — think a little kinder than a hostess at a restaurant.
The pumpkin carriage takes the princess and a handful of lucky guests a short ride up to her castle, where she greets her fans and heads inside. The castle is a single room, with a throne at the far end. Children line up behind velvet ropes to meet Cinderella and snap a picture. Her perpetually pearly smile is the first thing you see when you enter.
From about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., like a true monarch, she sits greeting her royal subjects in one long, improvised act.
Her performance is ever-changing as the children throw her various curveballs. And when they see Tisdale from across the way, they stop in their tracks as if witnessing a biblical miracle.
In general, there are two types of Cinderella interactions: there are the young girls who arrive in matching dresses and run through the velvet ropes to embrace Cinderella, and the children who shyly meander toward the throne, heads down as their parents nudge them forward for a picture.
“Whatever energy they’re giving me, you have to match it,” Tisdale said. “If a kid’s running up at you, I’m running back to them. If they’re really quiet, I’m gonna walk really slowly. I’ll try to make them smile or compliment them to make them feel comfortable.”
In some cases, the children will recite Cinderella facts about their day — from the rides they went on to the toys they brought — as if they were old friends catching up.
“A lot of kids ask, ‘Are you the real Cinderella?’ And of course, you have to say yes. But something I always like to add is, ‘I’m just as real as you are,’ ” she said.
More often than not, the interaction ends with a hug, and it’s not like any other. Even the shyest children earnestly embrace her, momentarily forgetting their hesitation and surrendering to the fantasy.
This is Cinderella’s day: a seven-hour improv session without respite. But the role is essential training for Tisdale’s wider career aspirations.
Back in her changing room, she opens up about those.
She was a musical theater major at the University of Miami. She barely had time to hang up her graduation gown before she received the call that she had gotten the job at Story Land. She booked it to New Hampshire; soon she hopes to move to New York City to pursue a different stage.
“I really want to be a professional performer. The goal for me is to work on Broadway,” she said.
And what better place to prepare than at an all-day acting bootcamp where she’s at the mercy of New England’s youngest and most honest critics?
In another magical kingdom not that far, far away, Becca Collins gets ready for her turn at playing Cinderella.
She is preparing for “Cinderella’s Topsy Turvy Show,” a live, interactive experience where children celebrate Cinderella’s birthday alongside the Mad Hatter, played by Brett Holland.
Collins’s Cinderella presents a different kind of regal behavior. She is poised and a little Type A at her birthday party, but she also levitates as she dances around the room with an air of sophistication. This Cinderella gets to sing, too, and the children are enchanted by her voice.
There is enough material in the show to entertain both children and adults. In one memorable moment, Cinderella is choosing the color of her birthday cake. When she picks orange — the color worn by the New York Knicks basketball team — she breaks character just long enough to shout “Go Knicks!”
Indeed, adults seem to have just as much fun with the performance as the children do. One grandmother arrived dressed in a full Cinderella cape and carrying a magic wand, threatening to turn any misbehaving children into mice.
“It’s about magic, power, transcendence, and resilience,” said Kathy Green, who brought her 4-year-old niece to meet Cinderella.
For Collins, the role is also an opportunity to flex her musical-theater muscles. She dances, prances, and blows bubbles, encouraging the children to get up and join her. After the party, she poses outside with the Mad Hatter for a photo op, while the children press Cinderella with their burning questions, including “Where is Prince Charming?”
Collins has similar aspirations to Tisdale. She started her life in musical theater at the age of 4 in Bridgewater. She studied it for years before moving to New York City to pursue her Broadway dreams and, apparently, become a Knicks fan.
The opportunity is especially meaningful to Collins, a New Englander who grew up visiting Story Land and its various Cinderellas.
“When I meet someone, whether it’s an adult or a child, that totally brings me back to why I’m doing this,” Collins said. “You can really impact someone’s day by doing this. Even though it seems silly, you really can affect these kids’ days and their whole summer.”
Collins shared the story of 10-year-old Gabby.
Gabby comes to Story Land every Sunday, and her parents pay extra for her to have dinner with the princesses as part of an exclusive experience.
At first, the actors wondered why Gabby kept coming back. But after spending time with her and her parents, they learned she is mostly nonverbal, except that when she’s around Cinderella, Peter Pan, and the other characters of Story Land, she starts to talk.
At the end of the day, Cinderella gathers all of her friends for a special musical sendoff.
The song? “Abracadabra.” Yes, the one by Lady Gaga.
As the Mad Hatter, Red Riding Hood, and Alice in Wonderland (played by Collins) begin performing, Tisdale stands behind a gate a short distance away, preparing for her grand finale.
When she steps out, the kids erupt with glee as she takes center stage and sings the Gaga song, complete with a few notable lyric changes.
“Hold me in your heart tonight,” she belts out.
It’s a tune so irresistibly catchy that even the Old Lady Who Lives in a Shoe — yes, there is a lady in a shoe at Story Land — is dancing along to the beat.
And tomorrow, they’ll do it all again.
Story Land’s Cinderellas have been known to be spotted outside of work, unwinding over a beer at a local bar in full makeup. They say plenty of children recognize them but seem to take little issue with seeing their favorite characters off the clock.
They’ll likely also see them again, years later, looking back at family photos — Tisdale’s or Collins’s bright faces beaming next to their younger selves — a small piece of childhood magic preserved in time.