At the 1988 Tony Awards, the big battle was between shows composed by the two respective behemoths of the American and British musical theater: Stephen Sondheim’s twist on fairy tales, Into the Woods, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s take on a horror classic, Phantom of the Opera. Despite winning Best Book for James Lapine and Best Score for Sondheim, Woods lost the Best Musical prize to Lloyd Webber’s more popular Phantom, which is finally closing soon after a 35-year run.
In an act of theatrical symmetry, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber are rematched with shows opening within days of each other. Only this time, Sondheim is the purveyor of ghoulish thrills with a revival of one of his greatest works, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, while Lloyd Webber is peddling updated folk tales with Bad Cinderella. This new Sweeney is probably the most perfect production of a Sondheim musical (well, maybe excluding the exquisite Into the Woods revival seen earlier this season), while Bad Cinderella is too aptly named. it wants to be a campy hoot but isn’t even mildly amusing.
Originally billed as plain-old “Cinderella” during its London run (which was interrupted by the COVID pandemic), this lowbrow parody of the beloved story purports to criticize a looks-based kingdom but winds up being just as shallow as the society it critiques. The premise and the grade-school humor is thunderingly announced in the opening number, “Buns and Roses/Beauty Is Our Duty” (get it?) as the chorus struts about praising their loveliness. The women are teen goddesses out of Legally Blonde, while the men are shirtless hunks with bulging pecs (They are even referred to as The Hunks).
Appearance is the highest currency in this burg and Cinderella is an outcast because she rejects these superficial values. But Linedy Genao is as much of a knockout as any of her castmates, even when dressed in punk fashion by Gabriela Tylesova whose imaginative, Disney-esque designs for the costumes and sets are the show’s strongest elements.
In addition, the prince of this tale, Sebastian, is supposed to be a plain milksop (this prince’s older brother, a super-hunk is missing after departing to slay a dragon.) Sebastian is a match for the allegedly dowdy Cinderella, but Jordan Dobson is as fetching as Genao. So the idea of an average pair triumphing over their brainless, gorgeous community is crushed by the casting.
As previously noted, Laurence Connor has directed everyone to play book writers Emerald Fennell and Alexis Scheer’s lame jokes and David Zippel’s simplistic lyrics way over the top from the opening. The actors have nowhere to go but further up as the evening progresses, belaboring the single joke of the show (everybody in the kingdom is a loud, good-looking jerk except the two leads). The sophomoric level of the script is something of a surprise since Fennell wrote the smart and sharp screenplay for the feminist revenge comedy, “Promising Young Woman.” (Fennell is credited with Original Story and Book, while Scheer is listed as doing the “Book Adaptation.”) As for Lloyd Webber’s music, his signature swelling ballads are there (with Zippel supplying generic lyrics) reprised ad nauseam, as well as some bouncy fun tunes, which are also repeated throughout the evening.
Genao and Dobson display great pipes and have a sparkling chemistry. They make this tedious exercise bearable. Carolee Carmello and Grace McLean are wasted in what could have been hilarious Grand Diva roles as the Wicked Stepmother and the even more Wicked Queen. But their one-note roles wear thin after a scene or two.
Ironically, the only character that really changes or grows is one of the Wicked Stepsisters, Marie. After being rejected at the ball, Marie sympathizes with Cinderella and advises her to battle for Sebastian. Morgan Higgins takes advantage of this development and creates a fully-rounded though still comically exaggerated creation. If only the rest of the show had followed suit, the audience could have had a happy ending.
