A real-life fairytale for Petaluma couple

“There it is,” says Brittany Law. With a sizable smile and royal gesture of her arm, she indicates a large structure on wheels, parked tightly backstage between various set pieces for Spreckels Theatre Company’s current production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.”

It’s still a few hours before the Saturday night show begins, and Law, who plays the title role, along with Zachary Hasbany, who plays Prince Topher, are leading a small tour of the theater’s backstage area. The ornate vehicle she has just pointed out it, of course, Cinderella’s magical pumpkin carriage, which - in one of the musical’s most iconic moments - will carry her off to the Prince’s ball, pulled by a team of mice who’ve been transformed into horses.

But first, the carriage will have to be un-wedged from its parking place.

“In little while, the stagehands will roll it across the stage and get it ready for its entrance from the other side,” says Hasbany. “This is a huge show, with a lot of literal moving parts.”

“It’s definitely a game of Tetris, to make all of this stuff fit offstage,” notes Law, stepping around a large mossy garden wall, to get to where the Prince’s royal horse Buttercup is waiting to be re-positioned as well.

“Hey Buttercup,” calls out Hasbany, speaking to the inanimate object, on which the imposingly tall actor will make his entrance in the show, in a scene where he battles a giant, steals its sword, and then tackles a dragon. That takes place offstage, of course. With all of these other props, there would be scant room in which to store an actual dragon. Hasbany approaches the fake horse, offers his hand, and then strokes its head, already at work practicing the art of theatrical make-believe.

“The trick,” he says, rolling Buttercup forward a few feet to demonstrate its mobility, “is making something on casters look smooth and seamless when you have a massive 6-foot-7-inch man sitting on it.”

“The funny thing is, Zach just got his very first riding lesson last week,” laughs Law.

“I’d never ridden a horse before,” Hasbany admits. “But Lauren, our assistant stage manager and spotlight operator for the show, she owns a horse. So she took me out and gave me a riding lesson so I’d know what it’s like to ride a real horse.”

Law and Hasbany, who are a couple in real life, are currently living in Petaluma, where Law grew up. She attended Kenilworth Junior High and then Casa Grande. Hasbany grew up in Morgan Hill, but attended SSU when pursuing a degree in communications. The two met at Santa Rosa Junior College, while playing the leads in a production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

They’ve been together ever since.

Saying goodbye to Buttercup, Law leads the way through some large double doors, and back to where a number of actors are arriving and signing in.

“I have some more fun stuff in my dressing room,” she says, opening the door to the room she shares with actor Mary Gannon Graham, now arriving as well, who plays the Fairy Godmother. By “fun stuff,” Law means Cinderella’s iconic glass slippers, which she picks up from a rack against the wall and shows off, glittering in the light. “These are the shoes we use for all of the action in the show, running away from the prince and all that,” Law explains. “But they’re impossible to dance in, because they’re too narrow, so I switch them out for these other tango shoes for the ball.”

To maintain some element of surprise, we shall refrain from describing the similarly iconic magic ball gown hanging near the shoes.

“Let me show you my favorite prop,” says Hasbany, taking over the tour for a moment. He leads the way out onto the stage, past some waiting woodland animal puppets, and into the wings on stage left. “My favorite prop is the giant’s sword,” he says, hefting the enormous wooden weapon that, when perched on end beside Hasbany, actually stands about 8-feet, making it one of the few things around that is taller than him.

“When our director, Sheri Lee Miller, had the idea that I would battle the giant and then steal its sword, the first prop they gave me was just six feet tall,” Hasbany says. “But one of our amazing stage guys, Patrick Taber, he made this. It’s a pretty cool prop.”

Hasbany says he’s always had an affinity for Rogers and Hammerstein, ever since listening to “Oklahoma!” with his grandmother, who’d coax him into joining her in singing “Surrey With a Fringe on Top.” But for Law, it wasn’t just Rogers and Hammerstein that made her jump at the chance to be in “Cinderella,” originally created in 1957 for television, and adapted for the stage in 2013 with a new script and some updated plot twists.

“When I was in high school, the new version of ‘Cinderella’ opened on Broadway, and I bought the original cast recording as soon as I could,” says Law. “I used to come home from school, and I would pretend to waltz around the house as Cinderella. I’d sing all the songs over and over. I can honestly say have wanted to play this part for a long, long time.”

Both Law and Hasbany have certainly been keeping busy while waiting for the opportunity to play these roles. As they step aside to let a stagehand wheel Buttercup into its waiting position, Hasbany explains that not long after meeting, they spent two years in Southern California, attending Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria. Since then they’ve been working steadily, landing roles in a variety of shows around the country, and even a few national tours.

“Getting to do ‘Cinderella’ with Brit is really cool, because it gives us a chance to be a couple on stage,” he says. “We haven’t been able to be romantic interests on stage since ‘Beauty and the Beast’ seven years ago.”

“Yeah. We’re always kissing other people,” Law says with a laugh. “So finally we get to do a show where we kiss each other.”

This production marks the first time Law has been back in Petaluma for quite a while.

“It was tricky, actually, because we were both performing in a national tour when rehearsals for ‘Cinderella’ started,” she explains. That touring show was PBS’ “Peg Plus Cat Live,” based on the popular animated kids’ television show. Both Law and Hasbany were in the show, playing to 3000-seat audiences, which was a thrill, Law admits, but because they committed to complete the tour, they couldn’t start work on “Cinderella” until a week into the rehearsal process. “Which was really stressful, but it all worked out,” she continues. “Knowing we’d be joining the cast late, we made sure to come in with our parts all memorized ahead of time.”

Standing here, within a few steps of the famous castle stairs down which Law will soon be running, in those glittering glass slippers, as the stage clock strikes midnight, one has to wonder what it’s like for Hasbany and Law to be a couple playing one of the most famous romantic couples in folklore. When the stage lights are on, the audience is in place, and the orchestra plays those famous tunes (“In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible,” “Ten Minutes Ago,” “Stepsisters’ Lament” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?”), does it feel romantic then, or is it just, you know, work?

“Well, we are definitely ‘working,’ hitting marks and remembering lines and all that, but those moments do feel romantic to me,” says Law. “It’s fun, because it’s like getting to fall in love all over again. I feel like, in real life, we don’t have a lot of moments where we can just stand still and stare into each other’s eyes. So it’s kind of nice to have this song where we get to do that while an orchestra plays.”

“It’s nice to revisit the flirtations and the awkwardness and hesitancies that exist around a new relationship,” agrees Hasbany. “And since we’re so comfortable around each other, apart from when we have contracts that take us apart for a few months, it’s kind of fun to play like we’re just getting to know each other. That’s pretty romantic, I think.”

Soon, it turns out, once “Cinderella” ends its run, the couple will have to separate again for a while. Law will be going to Italy for long-planned trip, and Hasbany will be travelling to Colorado to complete some grad school work. But after that, their current “Plan A” is to head to New York, together, and try their hand at being cast in some Broadway or off-Broadway shows.

Till then, though, Law’s fairy tale role has two more weeks.

“You know, thinking about this show still maintaining its romance,” Law says, “when I came out for the ball scene the other day, during our dress rehearsal, it was the first time I saw Zach in his costume, the prince’s ball costume. And it was like, I didn’t have to act like I was in love with him when I saw him, because I was actually going, ‘Oh my god! You are so handsome!’ So that was fun. That was very romantic.”