"It sounds like they may have overreached, but to me, anything mildly contemporary or witty sounds like a vast improvement"
Well, you're wrong. No, I'm not. It does sound like a vast improvement to me. Your opinion of it has nothing to do with that statement.
I would say you have a very constricted idea of what will please whom. Perhaps with regards to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, but only because that's the only show I was referencing. But I'll revise my quote for you to be a little more specific:
Based on my experience, the book was so traditional, something had to be done to pique the interest of anyone in the audience over the age of 7 who isn't After Eight and the old and young alike who may or may not have enjoyed the New York City Opera production performance After Eight attended which I did not see but could have succeeded in masking the the generic and dated thin book.
Hansel and Gretel is an apples/oranges comparison. People are also charmed and enchanted by Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. There is not the same expectation with regards to the book from the audience.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian