Posted: 10/4/22 at 12:26pm
It feels like they took out all the big words and overall just made it simpler. I kind of miss the changing chorus too. I wonder how much input ALW himself had in the lyric changes, like David Zippel is an accomplished lyricist but many of his lyrics for this show just seem a bit uninspired
Posted: 10/4/22 at 3:02pm
Dolly80 said: "This is gonna flop so badly and I cannot wait!
Anyone who thinks it was good has no taste and no standards.
Truly the worst show I’ve seen in 35 years of theatregoing.
ALW has proved time and time again he cannot see when a shows failure is HIS fault- so he will fire people/demand re-designs in the vain hope it will save his flop.
Broadway- I’m truly sorry in advance.
"
And I'm sure the cast and crew thank you in advance for your positivity.
Posted: 10/4/22 at 3:11pm
Dolly80 said: "This is gonna flop so badly and I cannot wait!
Anyone who thinks it was good has no taste and no standards.
Truly the worst show I’ve seen in 35 years of theatregoing.
ALW has proved time and time again he cannot see when a shows failure is HIS fault- so he will fire people/demand re-designs in the vain hope it will save his flop.
Broadway- I’m truly sorry in advance.
"
HUSH
Posted: 10/4/22 at 4:50pm
Oleksinski's latest article in The Post claims a new writer is on board to fix the book despite Emerald Fennell retaining her credit. It's never a good sign when someone is brought on to ghost write the book. I wonder who it is!
Posted: 10/4/22 at 4:54pm
Very interesting. One thing I thought of last night was that they need to make the character more “bad”, now that it’s the title of the show. The song itself is sung when she’s caught spray painting a statue and causing trouble for the town but I can’t think of anything else that makes her “bad”..
Posted: 10/4/22 at 5:29pm
When I hear "Bad" I expect BAD! This is the bar you have to clear, Lloyd Webber.
Updated On: 10/4/22 at 05:29 PM
Posted: 10/4/22 at 5:42pm
Some cast changes already -
Patti LuPone will play 'Cinderella'
Glenn Close will play the Stepmother
Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige will play the Stepsisters
Posted: 10/4/22 at 7:15pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Very interesting. One thing I thought of last night was that they need to make the character more “bad”, now that it’s the title of the show. The song itself is sung when she’s caught spray painting a statue and causing trouble for the town but I can’t think of anything else that makes her “bad”.."
I thought that as well - the basic concept of the show feels like one of the dozens of cheap cracked fairytale spoofs from the post-Shrek heyday in the mid-2000s, right down to Cinderella being a Hot Topic-styled flannel grunge raging against ditzy Barbies a la Janice from Mean Girls. Mostly it just comes across as outdated in that regard, right down to the gay prince twist. Such a simple premise could work with a bubblier (or more muscular) book, and we’ll see what it’s like on Broadway, but in London it was just a hodgepodge.
Posted: 10/4/22 at 8:24pm
I’m imagining a new opening number at least which is a shame because I like the hot buns bit. Others have suggested cutting “Man’s Man” but I like that song too. All of Cinderella’s solos are pretty solid and she has five of them. I can’t imagine her getting another one unless they replace the soliloquy with a new song instead of what it is now which is basically a reprise of her four previous songs.
Posted: 10/4/22 at 9:54pm
This is interesting. It was just announced that Michael Ball is going to star in a “reimagined” ASPECTS OF LOVE in London in March, so Webber is going to be splitting his time on two continents with two reimagined versions of his shows. I wonder which one will get the most attention.
Link
Posted: 10/5/22 at 12:59pm
There's also talk about a reimagined "Sunset Boulevard" to reflect the politics of our time.
'Norman Desmond' is a 50 year old MAGA incel who lives in his parents basement, who re-writes the constitution and sends it off to Congress, with the help of a young liberal senatorial candidate named Joe Gullible whom he holds hostage in the basement. The FBI calls and says Congress wants to see him - so off they go to Washington to meet Mitch McConnell. The rest of the story is not finished, yet...
Scott Baio will star as Norman Desmond. Neil Patrick Harris will play Joe Gullible.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 1:19pm
The new book has better give Cindy something to do in Act Two. In the London version (SPOILERS):
She goes to the ball
tells the young Prince she loves him
flees when he rejects her. (He doesn’t recognize her post makeover).
mopes and sings ballads.
Vaguely blackmails the stepmother into funds to leave town.
the older prince stops the wedding
the godmother and stepsister nudges the young prince to track her down.
if you’re going to stretch out the story, and cut the slipper storyline, then you need to give Cinderella something more to do.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 1:23pm
Also, the reason people help Cinderella in other versions of the story is because she shows them acts of kindness. “Bad” Cinderella is rude to everyone and learns very little.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 3:07pm
Dylan Smith4 said: "Here we go! He's going to be the same way he was with the London production! Seriously! I don't know how anyone would want to work with ALW nowadays! He's nothing but a control freak in my opinion! I've said it before and will repeat it: had he not been so controlling of the show and had a better creative team, I think it would have been a hit somehow! He should just be a composer! Not a producer, not a director, not a designer, JUST a composer. I'm sorry if some of you may disagree, but I have lost all respect for ALW at this moment."
ALW definitely didn’t do himself any favours during the West End run of Cinderella so I’m not defending him, but at the same time, the negative discourse around the show was fuelled by the cast itself, including Carrie Hope Fletcher! There was a complete lack of respect all round. Just a mess in the end.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 4:41pm
Could it be that in this version, Cinders declares herself to be "bad" but is actually a bit half-hearted about it, in a defensive "I'm going to assume a jerk persona and deliberately make people reject me, so that I don't have to face their rejection of the actual me" sort of way? I listened to the cast recording ages ago and to my dim memory, that interpretation already lines up reasonably well with the show. That might be a way to make the "not like other girls" vibes work better too, if Cinderella learns and grows throughout the show and ultimately rejects that mentality.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 4:46pm
WestEndGal said: "Dylan Smith4 said: "Here we go! He's going to be the same way he was with the London production! Seriously! I don't know how anyone would want to work with ALW nowadays! He's nothing but a control freak in my opinion! I've said it before and will repeat it: had he not been so controlling of the show and had a better creative team, I think it would have been a hit somehow! He should just be a composer! Not a producer, not a director, not a designer, JUST a composer. I'm sorry if some of you may disagree, but I have lost all respect for ALW at this moment."
ALW definitely didn’t do himself any favours during the West End run of Cinderella so I’m not defending him, but at the same time, the negative discourse around the show was fuelled by the cast itself, including Carrie Hope Fletcher! There was a complete lack of respect all round. Just a mess in the end."
What did Carrie say that was inappropriate? I follow her on social media, and I’ve never heard her say anything negative.
Posted: 10/5/22 at 5:28pm
David10086 said: "Dolly80 said: "This is gonna flop so badly and I cannot wait!
Anyone who thinks it was good has no taste and no standards.
Truly the worst show I’ve seen in 35 years of theatregoing.
ALW has proved time and time again he cannot see when a shows failure is HIS fault- so he will fire people/demand re-designs in the vain hope it will save his flop.
Broadway- I’m truly sorry in advance.
"
And I'm sure the cast and crew thank you in advance for your positivity."
Hate defending certain commenters, but come on. You're basically saying no one's allowed to acknowledge they dislike a show--that it's akin to wanting actors and technicians to starve.
Updated On: 10/5/22 at 05:28 PM
Posted: 10/5/22 at 6:27pm
Posted: 10/5/22 at 8:35pm
Dolly80 said: "Good luck to everyone involved. Most especially the cast who will be treated terribly if/when it all backfires. Again. "
I saw this on the West End. I’m A HUGE ALW fan and I hated it. Despised it. Woke, didn’t make sense, a synth click track band, odd casting choices, a dreadfully cheap looking set (revolving stalls section aside) and the music apart from 5 decent songs was beyond TERRIBLE. Not even a talented hard working cast could save this car crash of a useless show. Six meets Meangirls it is NOT.
it has some sweet tunes and the idea is ok but it needs
Half the music to be rewritten
The fairy godmother character to make sense (and a new song and throw away the mess of the current one)
The whole Cinderella make over and transition to be completely rewritten (with new songs AND EFFECTS - not a student meets panto type swap in an arm chair)
The show needs two decent love meets pop duets - there isn’t one in the show.
The gay storyline (spoiler sorry not sorry) needs NOT to be stereotypical bordering on offensive and also a new song.
All the stepmother and stepsisters songs CUT and rewritten. They were plonky Casio keyboard trash and a 10 year old could write better tunes. OUT.
The whole BAD format looked at again. Plus why do all the women in the show hate each other?
The show I saw actually made no sense - I left the theatre screaming.
There is a GOOD SHOW there somewhere. But will ALW and his ego be brave enough to make all the changes?
Or will it be…. Just…… BAD?
Posted: 10/5/22 at 9:07pm
Except the stepmother stole the entire show on the West End. Don't cut a minute of her material if they can match that insane Tallulah Bankhead panto performance
Posted: 10/10/22 at 3:51pm
"Flying high in the sky?" "Kiss you goodbye?" Those both sound like the lyrics in "Defying Gravity"! Is ALW trying to emulate that?
Updated On: 10/10/22 at 03:51 PM
