ALW's Cinderella — Page 5

LND - once it got to Australia, I finally enjoyed that score.  The original concept album had some beautiful music but it felt, I don't know - disorganized, unfocused?  The new recording of LND feels more finished and is quite enjoyable as well

Cinderella, I'm on my second listen through and enjoying it a lot.  Are there echos of previous ALW scores?  Sure - but if you're an ALW fan you don't mind that :)

Jordan Catalano said: "***SPOILER***

Cinderella arrives at a shop with some glass cases and sees the “crystal shoes” and is greeted by The Stepmother. Around the point in the song where she asks “is this really what you want to look like?” she puts Cinderella in a barbers chair and puts a lighted white porcelain face mask on her. Then the chair is “swapped out” with another with a dummy Cinderella that the Stepmother starts “injecting” with long syringes and working on with various “tools”."

This is a really good idea that was just bungled. Making the Fairy Godmother into a slightly darker presence is interesting. It potentially adds the sort of Rumplestiltskin layer to the story. But they don’t fully explore the concept. Cinderella should have to give up more to be beautiful and have a clearer moment when she understands she never had to do that to herself and doesn’t need a godmother (fairy or plastic surgeon) 

The whole ‘your plastic surgery will only last until midnight’ is utterly bizarre and just clunky. 
 

is it magic? Is it surgery? Make a decision Andrew! 

“The Vanquishing of the Three-Headed Sea Witch” has been cut from the show? The song is quite a tangent but I think it’s fun. How is Prince Charming’s absence explained without the song?

Updated On: 7/11/21 at 12:25 PM

Cool merch, J?

Thanks. Hope it's good looking and Im glad you enjoyed the show. 

CATSNYrevival said: "I like how everyone is mentioning Sunset Boulevard through School of Rock and just pretending like Love Never Dies never happened."

Not everyone. I very much enjoyed the original London production of Love Never Dies, and while I agree with the fairly common assessment that some aspects of the book were improved in the Australian version, I still lament the removal of the original overture scene on the boardwalk. It was pure magic.

CATSNYrevival said: "I still don’t think using “Till I Hear You Sing” as the opening is a good idea. “The Coney Island Waltz” would be a fine opening number, with “Till I Hear You Sing” in its original spot"

The repositioning of those two songs, and the rearranging and restaging of "The Coney Island Waltz", are my problems with the Australian production.

If anyone is unsure what the whole midnight thing is about, it's that Cinderella won't be able to stand being in her dress and shoes by the time midnight rolls around, and will have to take them off. It's evidenced in the lyrics of "Beauty Has A Price" and Cinderella's dialogue at the end of "The Ball".

I listened to the whole album now, and as a gigantic fan of the fairy tale of Cinderella, I hated this take. It's just so weird, and the bigger thing is it misses the entire message of the original fairy tale, that Cinderella's true inner beauty and true self becomes seen when she gets her transformation. I thought I'd give this a chance and maybe forgive that misstep if the story, dialogue/lyrics, and music were especially well-written and groundbreaking, but nope.

My favorite songs were "Buns 'N' Roses", which was very Renaissance Fair, "Bad Cinderella", which I would probably love if it didn't rip-off "In My Own Little Corner", "So Long", which somehow was memorable, "Unfair" because it was like Baroque which was when the fairy tale was written, 'Unbreakable",  which was ok, "Only You, Lonely You", which is an actual good ballad, Cinderella's parts of "Beauty Has A Price", "I Know I Have A Heart" which to me is a really great ballad, "The Vanquishing Of The Three-Headed Sea Witch", which was really cool as a rock song sung so well by Adam Lambert, and "Marry For Love", which is beautiful. So, yes, I liked a lot of songs, but still, except for like three of them, they are really just subpar or too weird, and together, none of all the songs weave a story I really want to revisit. I would love to see this on stage like once, but that's it. It's just not very magical. Special shout out to Carrie Hope Fletcher's great acting and singing. She's brilliant. Too bad the show isn't.

Updated On: 7/14/21 at 08:55 AM

binau said: "I agree it is plain weird and not magical at all (although I like that), which was such a shock. However, I think the feminist take on this it meant to be that actually Cinderella doesn't need a transformation to be beautiful and her true self is just fine as it is. Is this not a more inspiring social commentary?"

You say her true self is just fine as it is, right? I also said Cinderella's self after the transformation is her true self, in the original fairy tale. Emerald Fennell is changing the fairy tale so her ball, princess self, isn't her true self.

I am trying really hard to not rock the boat but it's killing me. I have to agree with MagicalMusical. After finally finding the time to sit down the listen to the recording, I hated it. Maybe it's one of those shows you have to see in person to appreciate or doesn't translate well to cast recording or the fact they are using concept singers and not the actual actors in the show (for some roles) but wow I hated this cast recording. Concept recording. Whatever it is. 

The thing that really urks me about ALW scores is here in FULL force and that's his overuse or misuse of musical motif. You take a melody line, you sprinkle it throughout in subtle ways. You don't take the same 'bad Cinderella' melody line and put it rather dominantly in half the songs in the score. Maybe not half, but a GOOD far share of them. I would listen again and count, but I don't think I hate myself that much today to do so.

It's a score that seems conflicted in itself. It's part fairy tale whimsy and part angsty pop wannabe. It goes so back and forth it makes my head spin. 

But the thing is... I like the STORY. ALOT! I like the idea of a Cinderella that is unconvencial, kinda dark, not your traditional beauty. I like the idea of a less then perfect prince that is not really beloved or admired by his people. I LIKE that they have a relationship already. I LOVE that the fairy godmother isn't some heavenly savior that helps her out of the goodness of her heart. I like ALL that, but I HATE this score that half the time is dark and brooding and the other half a happy go lucky fantasyland ride.

There are a few okay songs sprinkled throughout and one legit GOOD song ("Far Too Late" is a ballad out to steal my heart). And yeah "Bad Cinderella" IS a bop... I just don't want to hear the same 'Call me bad Cinderella, nasty girl, gutter rose' melody line with different lyrics 20 times in one show.