Awards - Tonys 2013 - Musicals - Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN CINDERELLA (2013)

Review from USA Today

The new production of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (* * * 1/2 out of four) that opened Sunday at the Broadway Theatre finds Osnes less surprisingly cast, but just as beguiling. The musical, appearing on the Great White Way for the first time, began its life as a 1957 TV movie starring Julie Andrews -- leaving the current star with a pretty big pair of glass slippers to fill.

But with guidance from director Mark Brokaw and librettist Douglas Carter Beane, Osnes and a gifted supporting cast make this fairy tale very much their own -- a scrumptious trifle that, for all its hokey moments, will charm theatergoers of all ages.

Beane has revised the plot so that Cinderella is not merely a kind maiden in distress, but a curious young woman becoming aware of injustices beyond her own shabby treatment. As in Hammerstein's original book, her wicked stepmother and stepsisters are funnier and less cartoonishly cruel than in the Disney version; but now one stepsister, Gabrielle, is being courted by a fledgling revolutionary named Jean-Michel, who sees the ruling regime as corrupt and oppressive.

We learn that peasants were treated fairly until the king and queen, who don't appear in this incarnation, died, leaving young Prince Topher and the community at the mercy of the greedy, wily Lord Protector Sebastian. Though Topher is about to become king, he's a little nervous, and clueless to Sebastian's machinations; it will be Cinderella's task to both open his eyes and boost his confidence.

If the twist sounds a bit like a post-feminist contrivance, Beane keeps things sufficiently light and whimsical; the satire may verge on dopey at times, but it's never pretentious. And Brokaw elicits breezy, witty performances from his players, who could hardly be better suited to their roles, from Harriet Harris' deliciously tart stepmother to Peter Bartlett's drolly pompous Sebastian.

As Topher, Santino Fontana, one of the most promising young stage actors of his generation, manages to be both charming and endearingly neurotic. Marla Mindelle's Gabrielle and Greg Hildreth's Jean-Michel make an adorably goofy couple, while Ann Harada brings just enough shrillness to the cattier stepsister, Charlotte. And Victoria Clark is predictably enchanting as the fairy godmother, who disguises herself as a poor old woman before transforming -- just as Cinderella does -- into a vision of glittering elegance, who soars through the air.

The visual effects are, in fact, more dazzling than the score, which despite the inclusion of additional Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes remains a sub-par representation of the legendary duo. Still, it's a delight by today's standards -- as is this disarming production itself.