A clever rewrite and a lavish production wows fairytale fans this holiday season, while an over-trusting prince takes center stage.
DECEMBER 6, 2024—GARDEN GROVE
Watch out, “Wicked” witches, here comes RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA at One More Productions’ GEM Theatre, a heavyweight contender for those precious audiences in this busy holiday season. You want magic? Hold your breath for the entrance of the fairy godmother (a crazy lady known as Marie and played by a vivacious Adriana Sanchez).
First, she performs instant makeovers on this scruffy fox and raccoon, suddenly turning them into two agile, high-stepping footmen in satin suits. Then wait until you see Cinderella’s (here called Ella and played by Erika Baldwin in a perfect matchup) retro peasant-chic outfit transform, right before your very eyes, and while she’s singing, into a red-carpet ball gown. Actually, make that two ball gowns, one now, one later.
Directed and Musically Directed by Damien Lorton, it’s the ultimate and most enduring of magical storybook shows! Specifically, a work that started out as a made-for-television musical in 1957, which starred Julie Andrews, and has since been restyled more often than a nervous stage star during Tony week. Two other TV specials you might remember was the 1965 version that introduced a dewy Lesley Ann Warren, and then that 1997 remake starring Brandy Norwood, which broke viewership records when it debuted.
Quick question: who can you think of that’s more modern, more post-post-postfeminist, than Ms. Baldwin’s Cinderella and her prince (Bryan Fraser)? And, what other story can you think of where your favorite characters are reborn and revamped as well-meaning, quarterlife-crisis victims — and then unlikely class warriors?
It all happens in a new irony-and occupy-injected book by Douglas Carter Beane (“The Little Dog Laughed”) that retains all the sense of magic and impossible possibilities, featuring a wised-up, wit-spackled, fully empowered Cinderella seeking to erase all mental images of Julie and Lesley staring damply at waxen princes. The result is a thoroughly delightful show that mixes nostalgia and romance with a clever can-do attitude and a kind heart.
This Cinder-Ella — whom the effortlessly appealing Erika Baldwin occupies with poise — is still very much an ingenue, but not the dull sort that just waits around for her dreams to come true. That famous slipper-slip? Well, I won’t spoil it. But let’s just call it a proactive wardrobe malfunction. Also (like her latter-day kindred spirit Elphaba, now playing at the Pantages), Cinderella is so totally not down with the status quo, eminent-domain tactics of the current monarchy. Instead, with nothing more than a smile and her preternatural presence — unassuming and all-assuming, at once — Ms. Baldwin’s heroine bridges a seemingly unbridgeable gap with ease. She convinces us that the woman who sings “I’m as mild and as meek as a mouse / when I hear a command I obey” is the same woman who longs to talk wealth-distribution with the Chief Executive.
Love blooms eventually, but it’s tinged with flowering progressivism, and Ella’s half-admitted drive to bag a royal is redeemed by a vague mist of politics. All of this, of course, is still facilitated by her eccentric fairy godmother, who first appears in rags but quick-changes into something a little more celestial when the time is right. “You’d be surprised how many beautiful gowns have crazy women in them,” deadpans Marie. And we’re sold.
Beane adds a twist to the story, when Cinderella opens Prince Topher's eyes to the injustice in the kingdom. The Prince's parents have died, leaving the kingdom in the hands of the villainous, Rasputin-like vizier, Sebastian (James Scognamillo), who has been the Prince's mentor and has duped his young charge into approving oppressive acts against the peasants. It’s great fun to watch Mr. Scognamillo vamp it up as the perfidious Lord Protector who chides the Prince for striving to make something nobler of his life. (“Worrying about that self-worth again?”)
The book is expanded with new scenes such as a second palace banquet following the ball, and adds several songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalog, including "Now Is the Time," "Loneliness of Evening" (cut from “South Pacific”), "The Pursuit," “He Was Tall" (cut from “The King and I”), and "There's Music in You" (written for the film “Main Street to Broadway” but never used).
The production’s touchstones are those thesps with outstanding voices, like the big-chested Trevin Stephenson as the loyal palace functionary, Lord Pinkleton. As Marie, Ms. Sanchez is a favorite of the house, an eccentric fairy godmother whose droll promises to make dreams come true are delivered in a soprano voice of piercing beauty.
In the same sarcastic, love/hate vein, Peter Crisafulli is irresistibly funny as Madame, so determined that one of her plain, unsophisticated daughters marry royalty and elevate the family social status. (“We are teetering precariously between upper-middle class and lower-upper class.”) But aside from assigning a few chores here and there, or constantly reminding Ella that she isn’t her “real” daughter, Madame isn’t the same grueling taskmaster as in earlier versions.
Ella’s two stepsisters aren’t particularly unkind to her either, and they’re not ugly at all. In a hoot of a perf from Abigail Matossian, the course and outspoken Charlotte is too self-absorbed even to take much notice of Ella around the house. And Gabrille (the talented Kari Wilhelm) is such a beautiful soul that Beane gives her a made-up suitor — Jean-Michel (Hayden Andrew), a revolutionary firebrand who works socially correct themes into the plot. (He courts her by inviting her to dish out food at a soup kitchen.)
But all these clever alterations radically change the story we all grew with, the tale about how true love rescues a callously mistreated girl from persecution. Yes, they’re bullies, yes they’re condescending and just plain mean at times. But they don’t exhibit the same level of cruel, threatening behavior that Julie Andrews experienced.
For that matter, Ella is really not even the hero of her own fairytale. By introducing all those politically correct social issues, Beane has effectively shifted the focus of the story to the Prince, who has fallen down on the job of governing his kingdom. Now, it’s about a guy with an identity crisis. “I just don’t even know who I am yet,” he says, before launching into his existential cri de Coeur “Me, Who Am I?” Key trunk songs added to the show (and given new lyrics by Beane and Chase) either build up Topher’s character or define the challenges he faces in cleaning up the rampant political corruption in his court (“Now is the Time”). Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Mr. Fraser’s mellifluous singing voice blends seamlessly with Ms. Baldwin’s lucid ingenuous soprano.
Best of all, the beloved songs are given gorgeous renditions and some clever interplay. “In My Own Little Corner” and “Impossible,” resonate with simple joy and loveliness, and several other numbers are rousing marches and waltzes that provide a perfect soundtrack for the impressive choreography. The dances (with characters decked out in breathtakingly beautiful costumes, suits and gowns) are both graceful and showy, creating a kaleidoscope of color and movement. Excellent use of modern, ballet, and ballroom dance, with the styles effortlessly entwining, creates mesmerizing, athletic numbers that completely entertain.
Perfect casting — right down to the chorus — smooth staging and fluid hoofing heals all tonal rifts and revisionist overreaches before you even notice them. The score floods your brain with Rodgers’s stately, aching melodies, including the bewitching “Ten Minutes Ago” and the clucking, catchy “Stepsister’s Lament,” translated here into a go-for-broke chorus number centering on Ms. Matossian’s Charlotte (one of the best numbers of the night).
Beane's Cinderella is not merely a kind maiden in distress, but a curious young woman becoming aware of injustices beyond her own shabby treatment. Beane does keeps things sufficiently light and whimsical, perhaps too tongue-in-cheek at times, but never pretentious. And Director Lorton easily elicits breezy, witty performances from his players, amazing actors who could hardly be better suited to their roles.
All of this — the stenciled-on Marxism, the retrofitted feminism — puts a new twist into the fable, but the show grows on you quickly. Beane’s book is good-humored and well-tempered, and it stops just short of attempting too much. Why bother with a 60-Minutes exegesis here? “Cinderella” may not be an infinitely interpretable text — Beane’s always on the razor’s edge of twaddle — but every age is entitled to its own stock fantasies. “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” is as solidly entertaining as they come, and the two central characters could even be considered the couple of the year: just a couple of regular folks, the soul-searching blue-blood and the enchanted-orphan, trying to get along, and getting along rather well indeed.
GEM THEATRE ONE MORE PRODUCTIONS PRESENT, RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S CINDERELLA; Music by RICHARD ROGERS; Lyrics & Original Book by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II; New Book by DOUGLAS CARTER BEANE; Director & Musical Director DAMIEN LORTON; Producers DAN BAIRD, NICOLE CASSESSO, DAMIEN LORTON; Choreographer ANGELA MATTERN; Costume Designer LUIS CORNEJO; Lighting Designer JEREMY HUFF; Sound Designer JT HUFF; Wig & Hair Designer ALAN COLLINS; Musician Coordinator JEFF SEGAL; Makeup Designer & Asst. Costume Designer ROCCO ZAPPIA; Scenic Designer & Prop Designer VICTOR CRISAFULLI; Theatre Manager VICTOR CRISAFULLI.
STARRING: ERIKA BALDWIN as Ella; BRYAN FRASER as Topher; PETER CRISAFULLI as Madame; KARI WILHEIM as Gabrille; ABIGAIL MATOSSIAN as Charlotte; JAMES SCOGNAMILLO as Sebastian; HAYDEN ANDREW as Jean-Michel; ADRIANA SANCHEZ as Marie; TREVIN STEPHENSON as Lord Pinkleton.
ENSEMBLE: CRUZ CAUDILLO, BELLA CHINNICI, SAMUEL DEANGELO, COURTNEY HAYS, KADY LAWSON, NATE NOLEN, MATTHEW RANGEL, SAMANTHA SELAYA, NADIA STINE.
UNDERSTUDIES: MARY DESMOND for Gabrille; ERIK DIAZ for Ensemble.
MUSICIANS: Piano/Conductor – NICK BRAVO; Keyboard – BRIAN SHERICK; Bass – JIMMY BEALL; Drums – JEFF SEGAL.
CINDERELLA runs November 7th through December 15th at GEM Theatre, 12852 Main St, Garden Grove, CA 92840. Recommended for all ages. Running 2 hours plus 20m intermission. Tickets start at $35. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. For further information: https://www.thegemoc.com/
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
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