CINDERELLA Previews Thread.

[Younger Brother]

I'm in Ireland, so the likelihood of be getting to see the show anytime soon, not so great. I was just curious to know exactly where the illusions are in the show (I'm assuming as Marie readies Ella for the ball).

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I was able to make it to Cinderella tonight, and boy is it rough. It's comforting to know that when one revolutionary departs (Evita), another- Miss Ella the girl of the cinders- is able to rise from the ashes and lead her people to free elections and fair taxes for all!! Screw R&H. If there is one song this production desperately needs more than any other it's "A New Argentina." It practically fits better in this show than Evita anyway.

My biggest complaint is that the show is too damn long. It's almost 3 hours, which is ridiculous. I realize they probably felt that at 75 minutes the show would feel too anemic for Broadway prices, but the solution wasn't to stuff the poor thing till it looked like Monica Geller's fat suit. The first 15 minutes (after the overture) should be cut. There's a stupid battle between a tree ogre thing and the prince, followed by a banal song for the prince. Santino sounds great, but it makes for a slow start and in the end it's all very extraneous stuff.

Then as others have mentioned we have Crazy Marie, the beggar woman. She does her "alms, alms for a miserable woman," routine for a while, and of course Cinderella is the only one who is nice to her. Peter Bartlett is the evil minister who rules the kingdom. He teaches the prince that it's better to give tax cuts to the rich than to the poor. When you start giving out charity everyone shows up for a handout, but best to give the poor something before they revolt and take everything. Basically we have a Mittens redux.

Possibly the biggest misstep is adding the character of Jean-Michel. He is our revolutionary fighting to bring equality to the land. Gabrielle, one of the step-sisters, is secretly in love with him and not evil at all. In the second act Jean-Michel takes Gabrielle to soup kitchen on a date (hey- she likes to ladle), and right when he's about to lead the ensemble in a rousing "We'd Like to Thank You Herbert Hoover" Cinderella and the Prince show up to explain how democracy began in ancient Greece with free elections. Let's have one now!

Because Gabrielle is in love with Jean-Michel, Charlotte (Ann Harada) is forced to sing the Stepsister's Lament with the female ensemble. It's not nearly as funny this way, though Ann tries her best to sell it. Harriet Harris has a very weird step-mother to deal with. Her character is all over the map and has pivotal role to play at the end...

*****SPOILER
She is the one to cast the final vote for the new prime minister and she has a change of heart and opts for Jean-Michel!
*****END SPOILER

The added songs don't do much for show. They make it feel bloated, and as some have noted, they don't mesh very well with the original songs. "I haven't got a Worry in the World" is especially tedious in this over long production.

The cast is the best thing about the show. Laura Osnes is really, really good. She sounds fantastic and does her best with all the social justice stuff. She really would be terrific as Cinderella in "Into the Woods," and I was hoping that would just let her sing "On the Steps of the Palace" to end act one.

Victoria Clark sounds lovely too, and "Impossible" is fun. The dress transformations are great and I liked the pumpkin coach.

I don't know why they just didn't tell the Cinderella story we all know and love. The addition of the political stuff bogged down the piece, and at three hours I just desperately wanted it to be over. I absolutely would never recommend something so long to a family with young children. It's too much, and the Jean-Michel storyline wouldn't hold their interest- it barely held mine.

BTW, the back half the rear mezz has been curtained off. How does that affect the gross potential? Do they count those seats as unsold, or since they were never on sale do they not factor in the percentage?

[CukorLover]

Finally, someone who could cohesively string three sentences together ! Thanks Whizzer, I always look forward to your insightful reviews.

[Wynbish]

I love a Whizzer review.

[dramamama611]

That often implies those tix aren't available for sale and therefore NOT counted as part of the potential.

Thanks for the review, as usual, Whizz!

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Ha, thanks. I'm sad I had to miss the first preview, but it sounds like not much changed from the early reports.

You know the good news about this show is you could fix it immensely by cutting stuff immediately. I know that can be painful. Many, many hours have been poured into each scene by both the cast and creative team. That isn't a valid reason though for everything to stay in the show.

For example, there's a dance sequence performed by a group of tumblers/court jesters that goes on forever. Nothing against the dancers or the choreography, but cut it. It's unnecessary, unless it's covering some set/costume change, but I don't think that's the case. There's so much extra padding right now and it needs to go.

[Jungle Red]

Sounds dreadful! Why would kids enjoy this?

There's a term we have in screenwriting. "Kill your babies." Sounds like the bookwriter needs to do some trimming.

Can you post a quick song list? At least, how many songs did they add?

I believe in the original story, one of the stepsisters was an ally and not an enemy.

[Wynbish]

Jungle, After Eight posted a song list on page 5.

[broadwaydevil]

A lot of these sound like fixable changes, which I guess is encouraging. I have no idea what DCB and company were doing to possibly make Cinderella three hours long.

I wonder if they're planning on selling the back half of the rear mezzanine after previews since advance is quite strong. I understand the theory of wanting to make the supply more limited to keep prices high, but if they're selling at or near capacity without heavy discounts it doesn't make financial sense to have empty seats curtained off.

[bwayphreak234]

YES! I have been waiting for Whizzer's review! Your details and thoroughness never cease to fulfill me! What did you think of the set (and how was Cinderella's house done)? And what were some of the special effects that were noteworthy?
Thanks again, Whizzer!

[Visceral_Fella]

Wow, that sounds like a hot mess. I hope they can get it together. This has such potential.

[Jungle Red]

Eh. Not really impressed with the song list. I'm all up for social commentary, but who thought it best to add a minister and cut the king and queen?

Who approved this?! My childhood is ruined!

The picture looks like a bad high school production and the shoes are terrible.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

With this cast it really does have potential, and should be so much better. Laura is going to be dynamite on disc.

Cinderella's house has an exterior, which is basically a porch and front door on stage right, which extends into a front yard with well and stone wall. One weird thing is that Cinderella's stool is on the porch, so that when she sings "In My Own Little Corner" she isn't in a corner at all! She frolics all over the front yard actually.

The interior of the house isn't really much to speak of. It's your typical cottage in the woods. Table, chairs, fireplace...it's pretty nondescript. Money was clearly prioritized to be spent on the costumes and not the sets. The palace is lackluster.

The best effects are the costume changes. It's not really a spoiler, but both Victoria and Laura change costumes VERY quickly a few times. There aren't a ton of special effects though. The effects in Pippin are far more dazzling; Andrea Martin's coup de theatre is in fact more stunning than anything in Cinderella.

[Visceral_Fella]

Your descriptions are so detailed that I want to see this partly to see if the show is how I'm imagining it.

[Jungle Red]

I need to find the Disney version and watch that now to lift my spirits.

[Visceral_Fella]

I'm purposely not watching any of the previous versions until I see this one.

[JohnyBroadway]

I'll never understand why they never took 2000/2001 production to Broadway? Now that was one magical production. Tom Briggs book captured the soulfulness of the 1997 teleplay. Andrew Lippas arrangements were gorgeous. And let's not forget the cast, Eartha Kitt, Poalo montalbon, Jamie Lynn Siggler, and Everett quinton. When Eartha made her first entrance during the prologue, you knew you were in for a magical evening at the theatre. I wonder what Poalo will think of this new production? After all he was invested in the role of the prince, for almost 15 years.

[RippedMan]

Sad. Sounds like it doesn't have much sparkle at all. And the storyline just sounds confusing. Seriously why not give us a normal Cinderella? Make it a one hour first act, and a 45min second act and call it a day, folks.

[BroomstickBoy]

I think the addition of the Jean-Michel character is ridiculous. Let's add a chunky/lovable character in the "revolutionary" role to tug our political heartstrings with the rah-rah for social injustice. And give him a hot chick so we love him even more! SOLD. I'm giving a hobo $5. Yay social change.

I am kinda sorta hoping for a recording.

It sounds like there's plenty of room for trimming. DCB does social commentary best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. There needs to be room for the audience to think. Sounds like it isn't the case here.

[bwayphreak234]

Reading what has been done to this show makes me very sad... I really hope they can change some stuff :/ reading about the lack of scenery and special effects is pretty disheartening. Cody Williams mentioned in one of his blog entries that the first stage direction is out of this world and will hook the audience... how does the show open exactly? It must not be that incredible since no one has commented on it yet!

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I wish I still had a VCR so I could watch my Lesley Ann Warren tape. I was obsessed with her performance as a child.

The other song I feel the need to add, besides "A New Argentina," is "Rags." Everyone keeps telling Cinderella that she's wearing rags. Harriet rips up her father's old cloak and tells her it's nothing but rags now. I half expected Laura to look up to mezz and shout, "Father, you left me all alone in this world, and what did you give me but 'rags! you gave me rags!'"

[Jungle Red]

I LOVE the Lesley Ann Warren movie! It has Celeste Holmes as the Fairy Godmother! <3 Celeste Holmes!

What I would really, really love is a musical version of The Ugly Stepsister, but we don't need two Maguire books on stage at the same time.

(Only because I like the changes he put in, with the art and the shoes. I also love the Latin spin.)

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

bwayphreak- The show begins with an overture, during which several lighting cues change with the different melodies. Then Laura enters with a wagon full of vegetables, one of which is a pumpkin. She continues to pick vegetables (mushrooms and flowers perhaps as well) and place them in the cart. She sings a little with the ensemble backing her up from offstage.

After she departs the aforementioned tree monster enters. The male ensemble is fighting the tree in vain until Santino arrives. He eventually outwits the tree creature, ensnaring it with a vine. The knights then cart off the monster and Peter Bartlett enters with the prince's horse.

I guess the effect he was referring to was the tree monster? It's a pretty costume to be sure, but completely unnecessary. They obviously spent tons of money on it, but it should nonetheless be cut. They should just begin the show with the prince arriving at Cinderella's cottage asking for some water.

[Jungle Red]

To be grounded in such a real world, why have tree ogres? Is there any mention of them again? Or is it only meant to show how heroic the prince is? Eh.

I love the entrance of Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty. Now that's a musical they should bring to Broadway! Could you imagine the costumes and special effects? AH. YES PLEASE.

Sorry to keep threadjacking, but work is so slow and I have nothing else to do.

Another question about the preview. What was the audience like? Families? All adults? Mixed ages? I assume the kids were bored, if there were any.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

There is no mention of the tree creature again. It is to show the heroism of the prince, as well as his boredom with life. After these big choreographed fight sequence, when the creature falls and all the knights are saved the prince says, "If I could only find something important to do with my life!" It's basically this big 10 minute sequence that tells us little we couldn't quickly learn with dialogue instead.

The audience was mixed. There were 4 young women, maybe in their early 20's, in front of me. They were bored, and in the second act whenever someone started to sing they'd whisper, "Not another song!" One woman left with her young child who was getting antsy during "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful."

There were less families there than you might expect. It felt like a lot of tourists too.

[Jungle Red]

YOU'RE AT A MUSICAL! Of course they're going to sing. What do they expect? DUMB.

It wouldn't do much for the ending, but if they wanted social commentary, they should've made the Prince gay. Or maybe one of the sisters gay.

If you want to watch a musical about a (not really) revolution, then watch Les Mis.