Stepmother describes her daughters with the funny line, “One daughter is an imbecile, the other is half as bright”. If everything in Bad Cinderella were over-the-top silly and ridiculous then this show might be a winner. That would assume different songs as well.
In Belleville the townspeople brag about their shallowness. “Beauty is our duty” is the mantra. The world is colorful and vapid. In walks Cinderella with her opening number “Bad Cinderella”. There are a lot of duds and too many ballads sung from center stage in this show. This tune is one of the flops, not ideal for setting up the lead.
The Cinderella story is well known. Of course the update here is to make it more inclusive. Just like practically every other new show. That being the case, there are far better musicals currently on the boards empowering young women and celebrating gender fluidity (& Juliet). With today’s ticket prices skyrocketing into the stratosphere, hopefully someone recognizes the grinding repetitiveness of these themes. Not to mention the business folly of competing for the exact same audience.
Are there pleasures in Bad Cinderella? Absolutely. Carolee Carmello’s Stepmother and, especially, Grace McLean’s Queen are a hoot. Their bitchy duet “I Know You” is a true highlight. I saw an understudy play Prince Sebastian (Julio Rey) and his characterization was spot on. The two evil daughters are embodied by Sami Gayle and Morgan Higgins. They chew the scenery and it looks delicious.
Godmother arrives during the final scene of the first act. Christina Acosta Robinson gorgeously sings “Beauty Has a Price”. The staging of this number is visually arresting. The set contains a turntable which is sometimes wildly overused. Watch the log circle the action in multiple directions for no meaningful reason in an earlier moment.
Gabriela Tylesova’s costumes are an eyepopping feast of colors. Nearly everyone is dressed well with the unfortunate exception of the title character. She’s “bad” so she needs to be different. Here her look is an odd combination of Hunger Games and Sherwood Forest with little grime. Think squeaky clean dystopian young adult Disney television and you’ll be close. Her ballroom gown is from an entirely different show than the rest of the cast.
The male chorus is amusingly and accurately labeled “The Hunks”. They sing with the Queen about being a “Man’s Man”. It’s campy and fun. In act two when the real man’s man arrives, the show briefly shines with gleeful lunacy. Cameron Loyal, oddly classified as ensemble, was a terrific and welcome jolt of self-aggrandizing energy.
For a musical to be good, the music needs to be. Borrowing a little bit of a Marie melody from Sunday in the Park With George isn’t enough. (Listen for it in Act II.) Andrew Lloyd Weber’s fans will recognize his style in Prince Sebastian’s memorable “Only You, Lonely You”. But the oft boring songs slow the story down. More zaniness would be welcome for this comedy.
I had a good time watching Bad Cinderella. “You’re a charisma vacuum” is a line worth stealing. I hoped leading lady Linedy Genao would have commanded the stage as is required. The role is a tad generic despite being labelled bad so the circus surrounding her gets all the attention. This musical can be recommended for fans of Grace McLean who is most definitely a Queen.
Bad Cinderella is running at the Imperial Theatre.