Review: ROGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA at Broadway Rose

Colorful ball gowns – Check! Gorgeous music – Check! A fairy godmother – Check! A glass slipper left on the stairs – Sort of. A movement to bring democracy to the fairytale kingdom – Wait, what?

Though billed as “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless classic,” the CINDERELLA now on stage at Broadway Rose is likely not the one you may have seen before on stage or screen. This version, which debuted on Broadway in 2013, preserves (mostly) the core elements of the story, but updates it for the modern time. Cinderella (played by Jennifer Davies) isn’t just a poor and ill-treated young woman dreaming of marrying a prince – she has aspirations of making the kingdom a better place for all of its other poor and ill-treated inhabitants. And the prince (Eric Asakawa) is open to this message – an orphan (also a change), he’s not content with being just a royal with infinite power and a pretty face.

These extra dimensions risk weighing down the show (and it is a little disheartening to think of democracy as a fairytale along the lines of mice turning into horses), but the Broadway Rose production succeeds by not taking itself too seriously. It offers up plenty of what people go to CINDERELLA to see – magic, colorful costumes (so many of them! with some very impressive transformations from shabby old dress to beautiful ball gown), and a world where being kind is more important than being rich. It’s also very funny! There are many zingers that get the social justice message across better than any of the more earnest speeches.

Plus, gosh it’s nice to see a big cast again! Broadway Rose returned this summer to the Deb Fennell Auditorium at Tigard High School after an absence of five years, due first to construction, then COVID,. CINDERELLA features 22 actors and a 13-piece orchestra, which fills the senses in a way that smaller ensembles can’t.

The principals all have beautiful voices, most especially Asakawa, whose opera background is readily apparent, and Leah Yorkston, who gets most of the best songs in the role of Marie. Sarah Aldrich is absolutely hysterical (in more than one sense of the word) as Charlotte, the evilest step-sister, and Lisamarie Harrison’s Madame (the step-mother) perfectly exudes sarcasm.

Overall, CINDERELLA is a highly enjoyable night of musical theatre, for everyone from kids obsessed with Disney princesses to adults whose first exposure to the show might have been the original 1957 movie musical. And who knows – maybe it really is possible for a poor person and a prince to get married and work together to create a kind and equitable world. Here’s hoping!

CINDERELLA runs through August 20. More details and tickets here.

Photo credit: Howard Lao

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