Theatre Review

THEATRE

By Lydia Parker

Cinderella Gillian Lynne Theatre

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella has finally opened at the Gillian Lynne Theatre after a string of Covid-related delays. With a book by Academy Award-winning writer Emerald Fennell, best known for playing Camilla Parker Bowles in ‘The Crown’, this production has been hotly anticipated, especially as it promised a new, more feminist, take on a traditional fairy tale. Is it worth the wait? Well, it is certainly splashy and fun and brightly coloured with a fantastically talented cast. The little girls in the audience in their Disney princess costumes most likely enjoyed it immensely, but, like me, may have been left a bit confused.

The world of this fairy tale is a town called Belleville which has its own monarchy, a vapid but gorgeous Queen and her equally vapid subjects whose only concern in life is winning the most beautiful town award every year. The opening number, ‘Buns ‘n’ Roses’ says it all as flirty women dance sexily around bare chested men. There are only two blights to their existence: Prince Sebastian is a major disappointment to all but especially his mother, as he’s not his handsome, hunky, perfect brother Prince Charming who disappeared in battle. The other blight is Cinderella, his trouble- making, surly best friend. When Cinderella defaces the new statue of Prince Charming, she is hunted down by the townspeople with pitchforks and tied to a tree, left to sing Bad Cinderella. She’s still the heroine of the story, forced to work as a scullery maid for her evil stepmother in what should be her chateau, but this Cinderella is seemingly not resigned to her fate. She’s a scrappy emo/ goth in black lace, fingerless gloves and clunky boots. Sebastian is obviously in love with his childhood friend and she with him, but we wouldn’t have a story if they admitted it to each other, would we?

The Queen decides Sebastian must marry to improve his image, “The people find you creepy and who can blame them?”. She arranges a ball where he must choose a bride from the invited guests. The Stepmother, of course, doesn’t want Cinderella to go, having caught her chatting to Sebastian in the woods, as she wants her own daughters, the vacuous and lovely Marie and Adele, visions in blonde hair and pink tulle, to marry the prince. As the Stepmother says, “I have one daughter who’s an imbecile, the other half as bright”. The Stepmother attempts to blackmail the Queen in the hilarious accordian-accompanied number ‘I Know You’, reminiscent of ‘I Remember It Well’ from Gigi; it seems they both come from seedy backgrounds in the entertainment world. The Queen is unfazed and perfectly happy for Cinderella to marry Sebastian; she may be shallow but she’s happily open minded.

Cinderella pays a visit to a dress shop, run by The Godmother, who promises to make her beautiful in return for her mother’s necklace, a precious possession that Cinderella gives up a bit too easily. This Godmother is not exactly kindly or Bibbity Bobbity Boo-ing; she’s a scary plastic surgeon who transforms Cinderella into an awkward blonde Barbie Doll version of herself, the upshot of which is Sebastian doesn’t even recognise her and dismisses her as being as superficial as all the other women without even talking to her. It’s a bit harsh considering the moral of the

story seems to be don’t judge others by their appearances, but he’s waiting for the Cinderella he knows and loves.

Needless to say, there’s a happy ending all round, thanks to a deus ex machina who confirms that Belleville is a town full of vain people, but at least they’re not conservative. This was one of the few surprises of the evening and wasn’t even terribly surprising given all the extreme hints earlier on. What was disappointing was that this Cinderella doesn’t go far enough in smashing up the fairy tale. Why couldn’t she have decided she doesn’t need a man to be happy and instead should get a good lawyer and fight for her inheritance? There was nothing in the writing to show that Sebastian was so roundly hated by his subjects other than that they kept singing about it. He seemed perfectly normal, handsome, princely and a nice person.

The production seems to be finding its feet in terms of style. It veers between the outrageousness of a drag show or a pantomime, and then becomes a splashy Lloyd Webber musical with his heartfelt 80’s style lovelorn ballads. The ensemble numbers are quite funny, but very cynical and sometimes full of high camp, such as ‘Man’s Man’, with the male chorus members thrusting their pelvises and dancing with heavy golden balls. It seems the writer and director were not quite sure who this show is aimed at. The dialogue is also peppered with language a teenager would find funny, but your small child may well be asking you “Mummy, what’s a knob?”

The dialogue is sometimes funny but is very casual, not sparkling enough for a production of this standard and a writer who’s just won an Oscar. It also sounds strangely American, perhaps better suited to a US sitcom.

The performances, however, are stellar. Carrie Hope Fletcher embodies scrappy Cinderella perfectly and is fun to watch. One only wishes her character was even more rebellious and well rounded; we never really get to know who this Cinderella is. Fletcher’s voice is stunning, soaring in her many solos. She also has a lovely chemistry with the actor playing Sebastian. In the performance we saw this was the understudy Michael Hamway, replacing newcomer Ivano Turco. Hamway is a seasoned pro with a beautiful tenor voice and deserves a starring role in a West End musical. His solo ‘Only You, Lonely You’ drew deservedly uproarious applause from the audience.

The Stepmother, played by Victoria Hamilton-Barrit is absolutely hilarious, and provides all of the humour. She’s a brilliant creation, part drag queen, part Disney villainess, part praying mantis. HamiltonBarrit gives her an unusual voice, a honey mixed with fifty cigarettes a day tone. One of the funniest moments was seeing the Stepmother trying to laugh but only emitting a “haaah” sound as she is too botoxed to move her face. Rebecca Trehearn is also wonderful as the effervescent, ditzy Queen, a bit Queenie from Blackadder as a Folies Bergère dancer. The two step-sisters, played by Georgina Castle and Laura Baldwin, are ridiculous caricatures as well, but very entertaining, with lovely voices.

The costumes are outstanding, a combination of Alexander McQueen, Marie Antoinette and pure trashiness, full of colour and fantastic headpieces. The set revolves and revolves and then surprises you when it makes some of the audience revolve.

The show looks beautiful, the performances are excellent, many of the songs can compete with Lloyd Webber’s finest. It should be joyous and yet it feels like it is commenting on itself with tongue firmly in cheek. If it had bravely gone for a real fairy tale of an oppressed and taunted young woman who dares to be really different and fight for herself right from the start against real, not cartoon, prejudice, it would have won my heart. As it is, Cinderella is a fun night out with some lovely tunes and plenty of razzle dazzle spectacle.