Student Blog: Comparing Cinderellas

A few days ago, I read an article about Andrew Lloyd Webber's new stage adaptation of Cinderella. There are few details on the story, but we do know that Emerald Fennell has written the book, and that Carrie Hope Fletcher is set to star. Due to the May reopening of the West End, the production recently dove back into rehearsals. I'm trying to imagine both musically and aesthetically what an "Andrew Lloyd Webber Cinderella" will look like, and I can't quite figure it out.

Now, here's something I feel bad about saying: I'm not sure if I'm going to like it (and that's a "me" problem.) I have already fallen too hard for the R&H classic, and despite Webber's ability to go in a totally different direction with his version, I don't know if I believe it can live up to the original interpretation.

Don't get me wrong, Lord ALW's a genius. He's written half the emotional ballads I cry to in my car, but that's where I think his genius mainly lies; in the music. I'm not sure how many times I have tried to explain the plot of Cats to someone, but it's quite a lot. At the same time, "Memory" speaks for itself. It takes a confusing show, where every song is just the introduction of another cat, and gorgeously sums up the emotion behind the meaning of life. Or how in Joseph and the Long Show Name when "Close Every Door" makes up for the silliness that comes before it. Now, please, this is NOT me dragging The Lord. I could not write "All I Ask of You"; I'm just saying, he can be a little wacky.

Back to Cindy. When R&H wrote Cinderella for the 1959 TV movie starring Julie Andrews, it wasn't like they had any doubters. By that time, they'd already created Oklahoma, Carousel, The King & I, State Fair and South Pacific. No one was telling them they couldn't write a romantic musical. So they did. And because they did, we now have three television movies and a Broadway adaptation.

Will the ALW version inspire artists for decades to come? Who's to say. I'm looking forward to how the story is interpreted; whether it will follow the love story or the heroine more, and what that will mean for the musical style of the show. But more than that, I'm mainly excited to see the West End reopen - that's one huge step for the re-emergence of live theatre.