‘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.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Carolee Carmello. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Grace McLean & Carolee Carmello. Photo: Matthey Murphy & Even Zimmerman.

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

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

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Morgan Higgins & Sami Gayle. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Grace McLean. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Jordan Dobson & Grace McLean & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: Cristina Acosta Robinson. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘BAD CINDERELLA’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

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‘1776’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music & lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Directed by Jeffrey L. Paige & Diane Paulus
Through January 8, 2023
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.roundabouttheatre.org

By David NouNou

1776, as originally written in 1969, was a masterpiece of American musical theatre. At the time it sounded absurd to write a musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It had no advance sale but ended up winning the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical and deservedly so. The book by Peter Stone is most interesting and illuminating. The score by Sherman Edwards is lilting and memorable. The direction by Peter Hunt was heart-stoppingly impeccable and he won the Tony Award for Best Direction.

In 1997, Roundabout did an excellent revival of the show, brilliantly directed by Scott Ellis. This year we get one of the most ill-conceived revivals of any musical. Most people know the signing of the Declaration of Independence and our forefathers from the painting by John Trumbull and the signatures boldly signed on the document. Anyone familiar with the picture and the show 1776 knows this is one of the most indelible portraits in American history. Historically, it is male-dominated and attired in the dress code of the day.

Directors are taking risks and reimagining musicals with mixed results. Case in point was last year’s gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim classic musical Company, directed by Marianne Elliott, changing Bobby, a male character, to a female lead, Bobbie. It worked because the character is interchangeable. However, when you uproot embedded history that strongly deals with sensitive issues like the abolition of slavery into “woke” standards of today, you are left with a very poor explanation/translation of American history.

The story needs no explanation but the ill-conceived reimagining direction by Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page and absurd choreography by Mr. Page is a head-scratcher for the ages. Right or wrong, 1776 is inherently the most male oriented/dominated musical ever conceived. Where it really gets dicey is when directors have to deal with the score of a musical; just imagine if you heard a male Maria singing “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story. 1776 has one of the most arresting and uncomfortable songs written for a musical, “Molasses to Rum to Slaves.” It is sung by a strong-willed, “distasteful” Edmund Rutledge from South Carolina (Sara Porkalob), refusing to sign the Declaration because he wants abolishing slavery to be stricken from the document. This song is not a throwaway; it has to be sung with hard, cold conviction and no gimmicks.

In another instance, “Momma Look Sharp” is a ballad and lament and is sung by a courier (Imani Pearl Williams) in a letter from George Washington to the congressional committee relating a soldier’s cry to his mother before dying. What is meant to be a tribute to the lost man here has been turned into a production number of a wailing mother and members of the cast in black jackets.

Another instance is the final song “Is Anybody There?” sung by John Adams (Crystal Lucas-Perry). It is a sincere,sad song about a letter from Washington to the committee about his losses, asking “is anybody there, does anybody care?” and Adams translates it into his vision of a monarch-free America but no one else seems to see his ideal; it now sounds like a “belt out” power-pop ballad on “American Idol.”

The biggest disappointment comes in the end. The ending usually is one of the most dramatic moments in musical history that sends shivers down the spine. As originally conceived, you hear each delegate being called by name to sign the document and take their place in the designated spot as in the Trumbull portrait in full regalia. With each name signing, you hear the Liberty Bell clanging, with each name the music builds and the clanging gets louder until the tableau is completed. You get to see the entire portrait that is frozen in time and the music swells to a full crescendo.

Don’t have any high expectations here. The costumes by Emilio Sosa look more like bargain-basement Halloween costumes and no goosebumps or portrait. The cast marches out, one by one, to sign a piece of paper with the signature on a projection. The end.

In all fairness, I have to single out one person, Eryn LeCroy as Martha Jefferson. Her rendition of “He Plays the Violin,” sung after a night of unbridled passion with her husband Thomas, is simply sublime. Ms. LeCroy delivers one of the few authentic moments in this revival of 1776, a brilliant musical that just comes across as a total misfire under the direction of Jeffrey L. Paige and Diane Paulus.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 10, 2022
Reviewed at October 9, 2022 press performance.

‘1776’: (left to right) Elizabeth A. Davis, Patrena Murray & Crystal Lucas-Perry. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘1776’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Sarah Charles Lewis & the cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

TUCK EVERLASTING
Book by Claudia Shear & Tim Federle
Music by Chris Miller
Lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Based on the novel by Natalie Babitt
Directed & choreographed by Casey Nicholaw
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street, (212-239-6200)
http://www.tuckeverlastingmusical.com/

By David NouNou

Tuck Everlasting is a well-intentioned musical but ultimately presents nothing new. To say that it shares a similar arc to Peter Pan is an understatement. Peter Pan visits a young Wendy but throughout the show he never grows up. Jesse Tuck (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) meets an 11-year-old Winnie Foster (Sarah Charles Lewis) but he never ages. Both are fairy tales and both have boys waiting for the girl to grow older so they can be together. But as we all know fairy tales–although end up having a happy ending–do not always end the way we would like them to end.

Tuck Everlasting was a novel by Natalie Babbitt published in 1975. It chronicles Winnie Foster being forced to stay home by her mother because the mourning period for her father’s death has been less than a year. Winnie wants to go to the fair that has arrived in town. Belligerently leaving her mother and Nana, she stumbles into the woods and comes across Jesse Tuck who says he’s 17 but in reality is 102. There is a reason for that. Many years ago, he and his family drank from the water trickling from a tree in Winnie’s back woods in New Hampshire and he ultimately tells her about their lives. She is kidnapped by the family; Angus Tuck, the father (Michael Park) Jesse’s older brother, Miles (Robert Lenzi) and their mother, Mae (the always delightful Carolee Carmello). The dilemma is now that Winnie knows the truth about the Tucks, what to do with her? So the story meanders into family tsuris that drinking from this fountain of youth and being able to live forever isn’t really a cure-all, but in reality a curse watching all their friends and loved ones die and having to keep running and hiding so people don’t get suspicious they are not aging. Jesse further instructs Winnie to wait six years for him until she is 17 before she can drink from the well and then they can be together.

Casey Nicholaw, acting as both director/choreographer, has a daunting task on how to keep this top spinning without it falling on its side. After all, he has done both chores for the outrageous Book of Mormon, the glorious Aladdin, and my favorite musical of the 2014/15 season Something Rotten!, there is no way of topping any of them so we are left in that gray zone of sitting through another musical that has an interesting book but is saddled with too many non-descript songs.

Fine acting and singing is done by all, especially Carolee Carmello, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Michael Park, and Robert Lenzi. Also noteworthy are Fred Applegate as Constable Joe, in search of Winnie when she is suspected to be lost; and Terence Mann as the man in the yellow suit, the carnival barker. All are talented indeed, but unfortunately the material doesn’t challenge them to be more interesting, so they end up being too one-dimensional. One must mention the lady of the evening, Sarah Charles Lewis as Winnie, for she makes a formidably self-assured Broadway debut.

Tuck Everlasting presents to each audience member the dilemma of would you drink from the fountain of youth and live forever or would you rather live your life to the fullest the way nature intended and enjoy whatever it presents you, with the possibility of a happy life: falling in love, getting married, having your own children, losing your parents and the cycle keeps revolving as life is meant to be lived? Your choice.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 1, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on April 30, 2016

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Carolee Carmello & Michael Park. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Fred Applegate & Michael Warte. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Terrence Mann & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Robert Lenzi & Sarah Charles Lewis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: (left to right) Terrence Mann, Andrew Keenan-Bolger & Sarah Charles Lewis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Andrew Keenan-Bolger & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Andrew Keenan-Bolger & Sarah Charles Lewis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Robert Lenzi, Sarah Charles Lewis & Carolee Carmello. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Terrence Mann. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TUCK EVERLASTING’: Sarah Charles Lewis. Photo: Joan Marcus

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YOU’LL BE ‘HOOKED’: Matthew Morrison (left) & Kelsey Grammer & ensemble in ‘Finding Neverland.’ Photo: Carol Rosegg

FINDING NEVERLAND
Book by James Graham
Music & lyrics by Gary Barlow
Based on the Miramax motion picture written by David Magee
and the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee
Directed by Diane Paulus
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
205 West 46th Street
(877-250-2929), http://www.FindingNeverlandTheMusical.com

By David NouNou

Credit must be given to Harvey Weinstein, lead producer, for his persistence and tenacity in believing in Finding Neverland when, for the last year, a lot of people in the theater community as well as critics were wondering why he was so obsessed with turning this property into a musical for the Broadway stage, especially when it had such a bumpy start and all the difficulties that burgeoned along the way. He dismissed the show’s original leading man, Jeremy Jordan, and replaced him with Matthew Morrison of TV’s “Glee” fame. He scrapped the original material and had the show reconstructed from the bottom up. Even when a show has a smooth sailing, it doesn’t guarantee it success, but when a show had so many obstacles, why wouldn’t you just abandon it and cut your losses? The simplest answer would be Mr. Weinstein is the little boy that believed in magic and fairy tales, because his belief in the project never wavered.

Indeed, Finding Neverland is a fairy tale steeped in magic. The magic stems not from the special effects, but from the delightful score by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy; at times one would call it enchanting. The book by James Graham is a bit fussy and relies a lot on the obvious “wink, wink” jokes (that the audience knows the musical is about the conception of the beloved character we’ve come to know as Peter Pan). It shows the struggles of J. M. Barrie (Mr. Morrison) trying to conceive his next play and via chance meeting with the widowed Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Laura Michelle Kelly) and her four sons (one whose name is Peter) in Kensington Park, London and how they came up with the idea of Peter Pan, pirates, boys never growing up, a crocodile with a clock in its stomach, and Tinkerbell. Now the trick is to sell this idea to his producer, Charles Frohman (Kelsey Grammer).

In addition to the lovely score, the obvious story, and some effective special effects, there are two performances that I found particularly interesting. Kelsey Grammer, better known as Frasier Crane from his Emmy-winning performances in “Frasier” and “Cheers,” is having the time of his life up on the stage. First as the curmudgeonly producer, Charles Frohman, who dislikes children (and ultimately is the model for Captain Hook), is an absolute delight. Imagine Frasier being older, more cantankerous and in a Captain Hook costume and mustache, and you will find the glee and merriment he has imbued in his character.

The second is harder to appreciate. Matthew Morrison, who has been absent from the New York stage for far too long, has the more difficult role of J. M. Barrie. It is a difficult and colorless role. He has to be the child inside the man that doesn’t want to grow up, and at times it does come off as creepy. Mr. Morrison does a wonderful Scottish brogue, has a lovely singing voice, and gives J. M. Barrie a hipster, Jake Gyllenhaal look (if you saw him earlier this winter in Constellations, you’d swear they were one and the same person or at least twins), a fact which I’m sure the “Gleeks” will love.

As for as other performances: Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, mother of the four boys, is unremarkably present; Carolee Carmello as Sylvia’s mother, Mrs. DuMaurier, is stalwart as ever; and Aiden Gemme, as Peter Llewelyn Davies, has just the right amount of sulkiness and charm that is needed for Peter.

Director Diane Paulus does an admirable job of bringing the show together. Although not as exciting as her previous effort in Pippin, she does get the job done. She could have edited two songs in Act II better. The first being “We’re All Made of Stars,” sung by the four Davies boys. Instead of four lads in London, it comes across more as Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and friends in the backyard. The second being the finale with Mrs. DuMaurier; it is endless. When the children around you are fidgeting, you know a musical number of this nature (and the audience it is playing to) is going on far too long.

In the end, the hero and savior of this musical is Harvey Weinstein, for if it wasn’t for his dogged persistence, the theater would have lost a lovely score, a hammy Kelsey Grammer, a yummy Matthew Morrison, and a fun, familiar family show.

BARRIE & CAPTAIN HOOK: Matthew Morrison & Kelsey Grammer. Photo: Carol Rosegg

BARRIE & SYLVIA LLEWELYN DAVIES: Matthew Morrison & Laura Michelle Kelly. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 15, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 12, 2015

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