The new original musical adaptation of Cinderella opened to near universal acclaim August 18 on the West End, after an interrupted preview period that began June 25 at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre. The creative team includes Emerald Fennell (book), Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), David Zippel (lyrics), Laurence Connor (direction), JoAnn Hunter (choreography), Gabriela Tylesova (set and costumes), Gareth Owen (sound), Bruno Poet (lights), and John Rigby (music supervision). The cast features Carrie Hope Fletcher (Cinderella), Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Stepmother), Ivano Turco (Prince Sebastian), Rebecca Trehearn (Queen), Georgina Castle and Laura Baldwin (Stepsisters), and Gloria Onitiri (Godmother).
Daily Mail (Patrick Marmion): Joyously vulgar. Endlessly camp. Fabulously catty — especially in the feuds between the show’s two glorious divas: the Queen of Belleville (a gleefully giddy Rebecca Trehearn) and Cinderella’s stepmother (played by Victoria Hamilton-Barritt). … We’re treated to a glittering parade of glorious kitsch, with wobbly cartoon sets for the chocolate box of Belleville. But it’s Lloyd Webber’s music that does the heavy lifting, with one of his most varied scores. … A glitterball hit! 4 out of 5 stars
The Evening Standard (Nick Curtis): Cinderella has a terrific palette of songs, a snappy contemporary edge, and a star (Carrie Hope Fletcher) whose voice is both beautiful and powerful enough to knock down walls. … It’s not perfect. The slang and the subtext will date quickly. The costumes and choreography are sometimes fabulous, sometimes meh. The story stutters to an awkward halt. But you forget all that in the bigger numbers, and whenever Fletcher takes the stage and opens her heart. 4 out of 5 stars
The Guardian (Chris Wiegand): Connor’s production starts with a salvo against fairytale bunkum: the shock news is that Prince Charming is dead. Moreover, someone has graffitied his memorial statue. Fennell is up to something similar as she defaces and rewrites myths about femininity, masculinity, and heroism. … Silly but warm and inclusive, with relatable, down-to-earth heroes and pertinent points about our quest for perfection and our expectations of each other and ourselves. 5 out of 5 stars
The Independent (Isobel Lewis): The production is driven forward by high-camp visuals, incredible comic talent, and an electric ensemble cast. But look below the surface (as is Cinderella’s whole message) and you’ll find something more muddled. … Sometimes it’s fun to go to the theater and watch a high-camp, brightly colored musical, but in this case the confused political slant muddles things. It’s a shame because, for sheer spectacle, you won’t get a more impressive show. 3 out of 5 stars
The New York Times (Matt Wolf): Cinderella is a big, colorful production, painted in deliberately broad brushstrokes … that turns a time-honored story (somewhat) on its head. The result may not be quite the theatrical equivalent of its heroine’s cut-glass slipper, but it nonetheless looks set for a sturdy West End run. Best of all: Cinderella is fun. … Its fairytale rewrite feels like a happy corrective to grim times: Cinderella arrives at the ball, by which point the audience has had one, as well.
Time Out London (Andrzej Lukoski): Remaking Cinderella into a takedown of human superficiality is a nice enough idea, but there’s something a bit self-defeating about hiring a cast of hot young buff people to send up the idea of hot young buff people. … Nonetheless: it really is fun. … As his cursed ’00s output fades from human memory, [Webber] seems to be entering a phase of his career where he just wants to entertain people — and that’s definitely a good thing.