On Stage: Cinderella

If you're expecting Rodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella, this really ain't it. The classic musical that made three successful TV movies has been completely rewritten, because if it ain't broke, let's make another one! I'm more than a little sore over the significant changes made to the script - or the "book," as they call it in showbiz. It's true that the production maintains some passing resemblance to the original, but mostly in the maintenance of popular songs associated to the story.

I wish I had a better understanding of why. Why add a political message? Why kill off the King and Queen? Why make one stepsister nice? Why make painfully obvious Disney references, or let the unintended ones be distractions? For fifty-five years, Cinderella has been a favorite or little girls everywhere. Each generation has had a movie to go with it: Julie Andrews in 1957, Leslie Ann Warren in 1965, and Brandy in 1997. I wasn't a huge fan of the Brandy version, but at least it was closer to the original musical than this latest, live incarnation. 

Traditionally, Cinderella is a mistreated stepdaughter, whose fairy godmother helps her get to the Prince's ball with a magical carriage and livery. There's the magical gown and the glass slippers. She goes to the ball, meets the Prince, they fall in love, she runs away at midnight, leaving her glass slipper behind. It's only because she leaves her shoe behind that the Prince is able to pursue her and find his true love. 

Not in this day and age, apparently. 

Act I: The King and Queen are dead, the Prince's adviser Sebastian pulls all the strings, and the Prince himself is lacking in identity, searching for his own self-worth. (Lame.) Ella has friends - Crazy Marie and rabble-rouser Jean-Michel. Luckily for Ella, Crazy Marie is actually a fairy godmother in disguise - able to turn her rags into a ball gown and her fox, raccoon, and mice friends into servants. There is more than dancing at the ball, including a party game, the point of which is to mock each other. Somehow, Ella's complete and total inability to be unkind leads her to reinvent the game as turns of complements. It's entirely absurd, and rather like trying to beat children on the head with ideals of kindness. Then, Ella and the Prince finally dance, until the clock strikes midnight. Ella is too put-together to leave her shoe behind... she stops to pick it up and takes it with her. WHAT? 

Act II: Y'all got some explaining to do. Cinderella left with her shoe? Unfortunately, there's no explanation in sight, and I can only assume that it's a device to extend the show. With nothing and no way to find his dream girl, Prince Topher (oh yeah, that's his name btw - Topher) has no choice but to hold a banquet for her to return to the castle. Because that'll work? Meanwhile, back at the cottage, Ella's stepsister Gabrielle has figured out that Ella is the Prince's mysterious lady love. Since Gabrielle is in love with Jean-Michel, she's not envious. Rather, she intends to help Ella return to the castle for the banquet, where Ella will be able to introduce Jean-Michel to the Prince and mediate a political discussion (basically). This time, Ella gives one of her glass slippers to the Prince - something to remember her by, I imagine. There follows the search for the foot that fits the slipper, the happy ending, the wedding. (No spoilers in that, I trust.)

The new book comes from acclaimed playwright Douglas Carter Beane, whose adaptations of Xanadu and Sister Act were both very successful. I've kept my distance from theatre's version of Xanadu, but I did see Sister Act, which I liked and found entertaining. I'm not sure how he became associated to this new version, and I'm not sure he's the right man for the project. Collaborating with director Mark Brokaw and music supervisor David Chase, they've gone ahead with some serious restructuring, which required some new music and an entirely new script. There's very little - if anything - left of Oscar Hammerstein II's original book. Maybe it didn't flesh out the character of the Prince; maybe it was a bit of fluff; maybe it's not as creative and original as Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister or the Drew Barrymore vehicle Ever After. That was the point. In fact, I might even argue that one of the most delightful things about Cinderella is its lack of a message, the glorious, romantic tradition. 

Laura Osnes (Cinderella) and Santino Fontana (Prince Topher) are adorable as the fresh-faced leads, with beautiful voices, well-fitted to the material. Harriet Harris makes a wonderfully entertaining, if not very wicked, stepmother. Knowing Marla Mindelle as I do, I was disappointed to see that her character was the nice stepsister. Ann Harada is famous for her roles in the original Broadway cast of Avenue Q and as well as her appearances on NBC's Smash - it's hardly a surprise that her performance as whiny stepsister Charlotte is such a stand-out. 

With excellent performances on hand, I only wish I had been able to see the original Cinderella performed on such exquisite sets. The scenic design by Anna Louizos is exceptional, truly Broadway-caliber, dare I say, flawless. Seldom do I see such wonderful lighting design, but I feel strongly enough about it to declare that I would be remiss to omit commentary on Kenneth Posner's work. My chief complaints are with the book (as you may have gathered) and with a couple of costume choices. Perhaps Ella's second gown would have worked better if Ella had been blonde, or a redhead. But the golden, off-the-shoulder gown, combined with Osnes's decidedly Belle-like hair, made for an uncomfortable copy-cat moment in which I heard several little girls say, "That's Belle's dress!" Especially toting a large book, it's easy for Ella to be mistaken for Disney's most literary princess. Her fairy godmother is different from other's I've seen, svelte and shimmering with long golden hair. She's almost like Titania, but with strange silver antennae and large balls or balloons sewn into her dress. Really? I mean... really? I'd expect something a little less absurd from the Great and Powerful William Ivey Long.

As I said to my mom and sister, the only opinions that matter are those of the little girls in the audience. The ones in their princess dresses, with tiaras and dress shoes, holding their mother's hand. Dozens of such girls were present at the Broadway Theatre, but I didn't have a chance to interview them for their thoughts. Did any of them miss the classic story? I know I wasn't the only one confused by Cinderella picking up her shoe and taking it with her. My biggest qualm is that they're capitalizing on the Rodgers & Hammerstein brand, while flagrantly going in a different direction. R&H weren't really off-stage choir type writers, and they certainly wouldn't have written the identity crisis song, "Me, Who Am I?" for the Prince. Lerner & Loewe may have done it for Camelot ("I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight," "How to Handle a Woman"), Schönberg and Boublil for Les Misérables ("Who Am I"), Wildhorn and Bricusse for Jekyll and Hyde ("No One Knows Who I Am"), but it certainly doesn't feel like a R&H piece. Dreadfully out of place for an opening number, especially for a Prince. Of course, also out of place are the use of the phrases "creepy," and "police record."

Every time I'm forced to face a disappointment such as this, I have a moment of doubt - should I have left the theater? After all, Ariel's Sebastian (not Prince Topher's adviser) said, "If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself," and he was right. Cinderella belongs to sweet little girls and gay boys, not to those trying to impress a political agenda or modern moral on our children. While I'm sure there have been worse productions, this Cinderella could certainly use a fairy godmother.


Notes:
- Julie Andrews started out in Cinderella, but later became famous for doing My Fair Lady, which is oft-cited as being a "Cinderella-story."
- Laura Osnes has her own Cinderella-story, having been competed on You're the One That I Want and going from relative obscurity to reality competition show winner and star of Broadway's Grease revival.
- The 1965 film version includes Pat Carroll as one of the stepsisters. Twenty years later, Pat became the instantly recognizable voice of Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid. 
- Check it out: Scarlett Johansson was featured as Cinderella in Annie Liebowitz's elegant photo spread of celebrities as famous Disney characters. While I was in New York, ScarJo was performing in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Ciarán Hinds... whom I saw out at dinner in Manhattan that very evening. Twilight-Zone style coincidence. 
- The Charles Perrault story of Cinderella is an extremely popular source for cinematic adaptation. Among the myriad versions: Cinderella (Disney, 1950), The Glass Slipper (Leslie Caron, 1955), Cinderfella (Jerry Lewis, 1960), Hey, Cinderella! (one of my favorites, with the mom from Doogie Howser, MD and Kermit the Frog, 1969), The Slipper and the Rose (1976), Faerie Tale Theater presents Cinderella (with Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Beals! 1985), If the Shoe Fits (Jennifer Grey and Rob Lowe, another favorite, 1990), Ever After (Drew Barrymore, 1998). And those are just SOME of the adaptations, not including ballet, opera, or other art forms.