Review Roundup: Andrew Lloyd Webber's CINDERELLA Opens In the West End- See What the Critics Are Saying!

The world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella will officially open tonight, 18 August. Read the reviews for the hotly anticipated new musical below!

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, written by Academy Award winning Emerald Fennell (Best Original Screenplay Oscar in April 2021) and with lyrics from David Zippel, the brand new musical will resume performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Wednesday 18 August. Previews initially began on Friday 25 June 2021, before another period of closure due to Covid-19 isolation protocols.

Matt Wolf, New York Times: The long-awaited show from the 73-year-old industry veteran turns out to have been worth the wait. "Cinderella" is a big, colorful production, painted in deliberately broad brushstrokes by the director Laurence Connor, that turns a time-honored story (somewhat) on its head. The result may not be quite the theatrical equivalent of its heroine's cut-glass slipper, but it nonetheless looks set for a sturdy West End run. Best of all: "Cinderella" is fun.

Marianka Swain, The Telegraph: "This is Lord Lloyd-Webber's first new show since 2015's School of Rock. If there's any justice, Cinderella will match its lengthy run, allowing millions of us to go the ball. And what a ball it is: easily one of Lloyd Webber's most entertaining musicals - a family-friendly extravaganza, with larger-than-life characters that make up for our lost pantomime season in 2020."

Chris Wiegand, The Guardian: "The original story and book by Emerald Fennell have heart and a torrent of barbed wit, exposing the faulty morals in traditional fairytales without scrimping on glittering trimmings. David Zippel's crystalline lyrics are attuned to Fennell's dialogue, cheekily satirical yet wistful and uplifting too. Lord Lloyd-Webber's richly enjoyable orchestrations range from grand waltzes, courtly processionals and marches to deftly pastiched and deeply felt romanticism, power-balladry, a splash of chanson and rollicking guitar riffs. Bewitching melodies abound: some refrains are practically iridescent, revealing new tones from scene to scene."

Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage: "Cinderella isn't going to win any awards for subtlety - it features a dance routine where muscled men heave golden balls around while making jokes about being well equipped, for goodness sake - but it's colourful, energetic and a huge amount of fun. It also, crucially, has a good heart and some sumptuous tunes, which makes you forgive its failings."

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: Lloyd Webber's diverse score incorporates wistful waltzes, rock ballads and formal orchestral pieces at the royal court. There are fewer earworms than might be expected, but songs such as emotional ballad "Far Too Late" and the rousing dedication to all things masculine "Man's Man" secure the attention and enjoyment of the audience. The show's costs of £6 million are clear to see; the production looks incredible. Gabriela Tylesova's costume design is utterly sumptuous, featuring looks as diverse as modern-day Royal Ascot, Games of Thrones and the court of Louis XIV. The hats and headpieces, in particular, are simply knockout.

Quentin Letts, The Sunday Times: "Cinderella is a triumph of catchy songs and fabulous wigs - it shouldn't be denied to a joy-starved public."

Tim Bano, The Stage: So what's the verdict? It's fine. It's enjoyable. Those who held tenaciously to their tickets for a year won't regret it; those who gave them up won't be hammering at the door of the Gillian Lynne. There are some good songs in the best Lloyd Webber mould, and the show as a whole is a bit of a spectacle.

Clive Davis, The Times: With a book by Emerald Fennell, who won an Oscar for the screenplay of Promising Young Woman, this reboot of the story, starring Carrie Hope Fletcher, delivers a 21st-century take on romance. And it's simply joyous. We all know Lloyd Webber can do portentous. This, however, is a show with a mischievous grin on its face, throwing in playful rock vamps and double-entendres...

Nick Curtis, Evening Standard: Fletcher rightly gets the best tunes, from the anthemic Bad Cinderella to the plangent I Know I Have a Heart. But Lloyd Webber delights in riffling through musical genres. Muscular courtiers work out to the martial thump of Man's Man. There's a sly Parisian wink in the accordion-backed I Know You, where Rebecca Trehearn's dizzy but dangerous queen and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt - huskily channeling the likes of Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford as Cinderella's Stepmother - recognise each other as social climbers. Theirs is a great comic double-act.

Suzy Evans, London Theatre: Director Laurence Connor's production is neat and precise, complete with a jaw-dropping set piece during the ball and eye-popping costumes from Tylesova, and while Fennell's script wanders on and off course a bit at the end, with a few mini conclusions, isn't that a little bit like life? Full of stops, starts, endings, and new beginnings? Happily ever after is certainly due for the rebranding it's getting at the Gillian Lynne. Here's to a new kind of fairytale.

Isobel Lewis, The Independent: At this stage, the mythology around the opening of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Emerald Fennell's Cinderella is impossible to ignore. From the musical theatre impresario raging against the government Covid restrictions to a "Freedom Day" opening night cancelled hours before it was due to take place, nobody can quite believe it's finally happened.

Gary Naylor, The Arts Desk: There will be plenty of punters who will wallow in the spectacle, enjoy the music and singing, and have the bloody good night on the town that is clearly the show's primary objective. But the ambition in taking on one of the most loved fairytales of all, one we're pretty much born knowing, and reconstructing it for the 21st century, is lost in a book that cannot resolve the contradictions inherent in its avowed iconoclasm. In that sense at least, the shoe doesn't fit.