Capturing the allure of conforming to beauty ideals that would allow Cinderella to “disappear me”, it’s the darkest comedy of extreme corsetry since Haus of Holbein in the West End hit Six. Cinders sets out to look as hot as “volcanic ash” in the cautionary Beauty Has a Price, a duet with Gloria Onitiri (fantastic as the godmother). We get, in effect, two transformations as Sebastian and Cinderella both try out new guises at the ball, where he must choose a bride. The couple’s teasing relationship is captured in an affecting, informal song together, So Long, rather than sealed in a passionate duet: this is a celebration of being mates rather than a quest to find a mate, as Sebastian is instructed. The finale shows him to be a mean mover but he has a keen physicality throughout: awkward in public, at ease with Cinderella. Turco delicately delivers the tender ebb and flow of his ballad Only You, Lonely You. Newcomer Ivano Turco, who graduated last summer, is equally excellent as Prince Charming’s downbeat brother, Sebastian, forced to marry and take the throne, jeopardising his friendship with Cinderella. Fletcher slips brilliantly into her character with winning appeal, her despair revealed in Unbreakable, which evokes Close Every Door from Joseph. Belleville’s prim musical motifs recall those for the elite institution where Finn caused chaos.
Sneering and raging, she is another of Lloyd Webber’s outsiders and akin to Dewey Finn in School of Rock. In the first of several superb solos, Bad Cinderella, Carrie Hope Fletcher owns the rebellious reputation Cinders has been given. But Fennell defines her through defiance rather than duty and she never looks likely to chatter with magical birds. With her grasping and vain stepsisters (Georgina Castle and Laura Baldwin) simply reflecting the town spirit, Cinders sticks out.
0 kommentar(er)
