Little did Andrew Lloyd Webber know when he saddled his most recent musical with the ill-chosen name “Bad Cinderella” that he was handing theater critics here in New York a cudgel with which to beat his latest Broadway production to a pulp.
And beat it they did, savagely so, to the point of forcing it to close at the Imperial Theatre on June 4, 2023 after only 33 previews, 85 regular performances, with a loss rumored to be near $19 million dollars.
I might add, more or less, this same play, a retooled feminist version of the Cinderella fairytale then named solely “Cinderella,” opened at Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End to mostly warm reviews (after several pandemic-related stops and starts) on June 25, 2021. With a running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, including two intervals, it played 33 previews and 85 performances, suffered heavy losses throughout its run and closed Monday, June 12, the day after the Tony Awards were given out.
Lloyd Webber was roundly criticized for the manner in which some of the current and future Cinderella cast members learned of its 2022 closing–via social media. For the first time in 43 years, the Tony Awards made no mention of a Lloyd Webber play.
Little surprise that the snubbed Webber chose not to attend the final performance of Cinderella. Instead, he sent a letter, which was read aloud on stage by the show’s director Laurence Conner on its final night. It read “opening a new musical during the pandemic might have been a costly mistake, but I am proud of what we did and will forever be grateful to everyone who supported me.”
Crossing the pond to stateside with cast changes, and 30 minutes shaved off the London production seemed to make no difference to the New York reviewers, despite the hoopla surrounding Lord Lloyd Webber’s specially commissioned anthem, “Make a Joyful Noise,” which premiered during the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III & Queen Camilla.
The New York Times critic Jesse Green hit the hardest, opening his review by calling Bad Cinderella, “surprisingly vulgar, sexed-up and dumbed-down: a parade of hustling women in bustiers and shirtless pec-rippling hunks.” Following up he wrote, “Finally, a Cinderella for street walkers and gym rats.” In a certain sense, after the best theatrical season in years, this was New York reclaiming “The Great White Way” for themselves.
Alas, the New York reviews rang true on all accounts: Bad Cinderella’s mush-filled script appeared to come out of a blender with the kitchen sink attached. Not helping were JoAnn M. Hunter’s less-than-enchanting in-your-face choreography, the lackluster performances of the mostly dressed-down Cinderella (Linedy Genao) and the two Princes (Jordan Dobson & Cameron Loyal).
Still, some memorable moments made my Bad Cinderella visit worthwhile. Particularly crowd-pleasing, and favorably mentioned in most every review, were David Zippel’s delightful lyrics for “I Know You,” smashingly brought to life by Cinderella’s Stepmother (Carolee Carmello) and Grace McLean, as the Queen Mother of both princes. This highlight had both actors, hell-bent on getting what they wanted for their children, threatening to expose each other’s lower-class background and sex-worker experience. Reminiscent of Bea Arthur/Angela Lansbury’s show-stopping song “Bosom Buddies,” “I Know You,” was reprised a couple of times (as one gleeful critic quipped, he could have sat through several more).
This Carmello/McLean number alone should have gotten the show a Tony nod for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in A Musical. Alas, neither a fig nor bone was tossed Bad Cinderella’s way.
I’d be remiss not to mention the actresses (Sami Gayle and Morgan Higgins) that played Cinderella’s two sisters. Cleverly costumed by Gabriella Tylesov (She also designed the set), they were oodles of fun to watch as they cavorted wildly across the stage. They, too, were an audience favorite.
