'Bad Cinderella': Fractured fairy tale

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Linedy Genao & Jordan Dobson. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

BAD CINDERELLA
Book by Emerald Fennell
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by David Zippel
Directed by Laurence Connor
Choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), badcinderellabroadway.com

By David NouNou

Bad Cinderella isn’t as horrendous as you may have heard or read, but it is pretty awful. The only two musicals that are worse, since the theatres reopened in September of 2021, are: Diana, The Musical, which was so ridiculously bad, making it amusing enough for audiences to revel in its lunacy. The second was last fall’s disastrous and totally misguided inept all-female revival of 1776, which, by the way, also had Carolee Carmello in it.

What makes Bad Cinderella such a head-scratching enigma is that there is so much pedigree in it. How can you screw up Cinderella? The creators found a way: Emerald Fennell, who won an Oscar for her brilliant screenplay of Promising Young Woman, tried to give an edgy twist to the Cinderella plot instead wrote herself into a humorless trainwreck. The lyrics by David Zippel are bland and clichéd. They both failed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music. This is not to say that this is among Lord Lloyd Webber’s best, but they are melodic and kind of have a staying power in your head.

This Cinderella (Linedy Genoa) is bad. She is a rebel and doesn’t take sass from anyone. There is no Prince Charming here—he comes later (don’t ask), but there is his younger meek brother, Sebastian (Jordan Dobson). There is also the Queen Mother (Grace McLean), the wicked stepmother (Carolee Carmello) and two stepsisters: Adele (Sami Gayle) and Marie (Morgan Higgins) and an array of witless vapid young ladies trying to capture Sebastian’s heart, and an array of shirtless “hunks” (as Playbill dubs them) with leather harnesses on (please again, don’t ask). Because other than the initial Cinderella storyline nothing makes sense in this rendition. The trouble here is that the show takes itself too seriously, and unlike Diana, The Musical (which was a fun hot mess), there is no joy in goofing on it.

Both Ms. Genoa and Mr. Dobson lack the experience, presence and the charm to make Cinderella and Sebastian likeable characters. As for the rest of the cast— and this includes the always dependable Carolee Carmello—they are all so over the top, with exaggerated overacting, that the smell of stale ham reeks throughout the theatre.

There is also the unforgivable misguided direction of Laurence Connor who also did Lord Webber a disservice. It is so heavy-handed and aimless, that he has no real vision of what is happening on the stage. If you saw his previous revivals of Les Misérables in 2014 and Miss Saigon in 2017, you would understand. In this case not being a revival, there is no real structure, the transitioning from one scene to the next has no real continuity; they just happen. Thrown in between is JoAnn M. Hunter’s listless choreography.

What is so sad about this musical is that Andrew Lloyd Webber delivered the music, but no one and nothing else came up to his level. Let’s hope that Phantom of the Opera gets extended again, this time for the summer, and thus gives Lord Lloyd Webber a fitting send-off.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 27, 2023
Reviewed at March 26, 2023 press performance.