Cinderella changes

[RaisedOnMusicals]

So, did anyone see Cinderella tonight? I think they were putting in some major changes this week?

[Gink]

Was there tonight,but this was my first time seeing it so I can't remark on changes, but I found the puppets very distracting and did not enjoy the whole election/soup kitchen plotline. They overdid the 'be kind' business at the ball--I could go on but I don't have anything to add that hasn't been mentioned in the other thread.

[After Eight]

With all this talk about changes, I went back today. It was about 15 minutes shorter than the first preview. There were some changes, but at this stage, not a huge overhaul.

The visit to shantytown is now gone, as is the reprise of "Now Is the Time" in that scene. (Scene and song still listed in Playbill.) Now Jean-Michel and a group of peasants state their case to the prince at the palace.

The fight with the giant tree remains. It may have been shortened. The tree is very accommodating, letting itself be lassoed very compliantly.

There may be less political commentary now, but there are still references to liberals, the downtrodden peasantry, etc. The heaping helping of stupid anachronistic jokes pure Douglas Carter Beane is still there, as is the use of jarring contemporary jargon. Somehow that hoary joke, "The peasants are revolting!" "I'll say!" still remains.

The curtain call has each performer taking a bow-- biggest applause today going to Laura Osnes and Victoria Clark. Then everyone sings a bit of "Impossible."

The Playbill cover is now in color.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

AfterEight, given your strong negative view of the show following the first time you went, I give you credit for returning and providing this information. I have not seen it yet, and plan to go after it opens, but I do find it interesting that they seem to be listening to some of the criticism and are trying to make it better. So I'll give them some credit as well.

[After Eight]

Also, they now explain why the prince is still a prince and not king. The advisor informs us that he promised the now-deceased king and queen that the prince would become king as soon as he was of age.

They didn't say what age that is in this kingdom, but offhand, I'd say Santino Fontana seems already to have attained it.

[Blockhead24]

"The Playbill cover is now in color."
Mine tonight wasn't

[CockeyedOptimist2]

I was also back tonight looking for changes, but only noted the same as After Eight above. It's still too long and Act II especially feels bloated. So many of the jokes still don't work. Many of the numbers, especially the trunk numbers, are met with polite applause at best. That said, the high points are so high (for me) that I think it's worth the price of admission. I could watch "Impossible" and its transformations as well as "Ten Minutes Ago" over and over again.

[After Eight]

"It's still too long and Act II especially feels bloated. "

Yes. The show really just tanks the minute the Gabrielle/Jean-Michel plot takes center stage. Their duet is completely unnecessary, and as the preaching rises, the show droops.

[nasty_khakis]

I found their duet cute, but not entirely necessary. It's mostly there to give Laura time to change into the complicated dress.

[BroomstickBoy]

I feel like Jean-Michel sounds a lot like DCB based the character on himself. I mean, every playwright has a character in their piece that sounds like them...however it sounds like he's overblown the concept a little much. I can't watch interviews with the cast because of the constant love-festing with the Old Beane.

[After Eight]

"I could watch "Impossible" and its transformations as well as "Ten Minutes Ago" over and over again."

I could, too. In the end, whatever Douglas Carter Beane has perpetrated on this show, R & H's score for Cinderella remains heavenly, manna for theatregoers lost in a wilderness of pap and tripe like Book of Mormon and Once. And to think that some pathetic, benighted soul here has proclaimed R & H's score inferior to such things.

The sage pronouncements one hears on a theatre message boad!

[PalJoey]

I hope they don't think that peasants-revolting joke is original. It's been around since the Bubonic Plague.

Only not as funny.


===


From Mel Brooks's History of the Word, Part One:

"Your highness, the peasants are revolting!"
"You said it. They stink on ice. Pull!"


From Dragonheart:

Young Einon: The peasants are revolting.
Brok: They've always been revolting, Prince. But now they're rebelling.


Political cartoon:





The Wizard of Id:







Flickr page:




T-shirt:






Political cartoon:





Sign at protest:




Memoir:

[GoshGeeGolly]

(I thought the fairy god-mother looked like Patrick Swayze in To Wong Foo.) Anyone agree?
Otherwise I thought it was great!

[After Eight]

^

Her dress was an eyesore indeed. The fairy godmother should have better fashion sense!

I much preferred Edie Adams's dress in the original. Also how the part was written. None of this crazy woman in rags nonsense.

[GoshGeeGolly]

PalJoey, thanks for the revolting peasants stuff!

[CockeyedOptimist2]

"I could, too. In the end, whatever Douglas Carter Beane has perpetrated on this show, R & H's score for Cinderella remains heavenly, manna for theatregoers lost in a wilderness of pap and tripe like Book of Mormon and Once. And to think that some pathetic, benighted soul here has proclaimed R & H's score inferior to such things. "

I'm with you on that (mostly), After Eight. If only R&H always had at least one show running on Broadway. I finally watched the original Cinderella broadcast last night when I got home from the show and thought it was enchanting. There is a DVD extra that features Rodgers & Hammerstein promoting the broadcast on The Ed Sullivan show. Ed asked the team if they were modernizing the story of Cinderella, to which Dick replied that it was important to them not to bring the story into the modern era. While the new production is certainly welcome to update the story, it seems to be against the original intention. Not a huge problem necessarily, except that the book with its more modern tone doesn't really work.

[After Eight]

^

The original broadcast is sublime, never to be equalled. Julie Andrews! Edie Adams!

I watch it again and again. It's timeless.

[darquegk]

Perhaps the problem is that there is only enough Cinderella, no matter how tight you stretch it, for one hour, and that pulling it to three required it to be torn beyond repair?

Then again, people are pretty unanimous that the Eartha Kitt tour was a vast improvement over the "purple book" version traditionally licensed.

[AEA AGMA SM]

But even for that production Tom Briggs did not stretch the book that much. Act 1 was about 55 minutes and Act 2 even shorter. The whole evening clocked in at just around two hours, including intermission.

[James2]

Let me add another example.

Chicken Run:
Mr. Tweedy: Mrs. Tweedy! The chickens are revolting!
Mrs. Tweedy: Finally, something we can agree on.

[darquegk]

The "purple book" runs 75 minutes including all intermissions, if I remember. So that's an additional 45 minutes or so, not a bad padder-out, but not an epic.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Oh, for Christ's sake. Here's what you do:

1. Quietly remove Beane from the production, hire a dramaturge, take out the new song material related to Beane's subplots, and start with the original three-act setting, restoring "Never in a Thousand Years."
3. Add "Loneliness of Evening" and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" in their respective slots from the 1965 broadcast.
4. Add "Falling in Love with Love," "The Sweetest Sounds," and "There's Music in You" in their respective slots from the 1997 broadcast.
5. Track down the 1958 London Christmas pantomime version which used songs from Me & Juliet, which, let's face it, is never going to be revived, and include those.
6. Reduce the book (which was never weighty fare anyway), emphasize the score.
7. Slight re-design of sets.
8. Sit back and print money.

[CrazierThanYou]

Don't know if this pic has been posted yet...

[IMG]

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Dear g.d.etc.

No problem with getting this all done and rehearsed prior to the March 3 opening. Thanks for your helpful suggestions. Please send me your contact information and I'll send you over a contract putting you in complete charge.

Sincerely

Robyn Goodman

[daisybeetle]

Has anyone recorded "Never in a Thousand Years"? I've never heard it.

btw. Thanks for reminding me how much I loved Bernadette's "Falling in Love with Love" Hadn't seen it since the original tv broadcast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqEclRcoZeo

[Dollypop]

I directed a high school production of R&H's CINDERELLA many years ago. I realized then that the plot is really thin. Disney added all sorts of diversions with birds and animals. Obviously this production incorporated revolting peasants.

What sells this show is the score, the special effects and its scenic design. Hopefully this new production will succeed.