ALW's Cinderella - Gillian Lynne / U.K. Tour (rumour)

I thoroughly enjoyed the matinee today.
The costumes, wigs (apart from poor Carrie who has two duds) and hats are glorious, the hats are real stunners.
It was a lot of fun. Great cast.
Rebecca Trehern is obviously fantastic and worth the ticket alone to see her do her thing in those towering wigs. And Victoria HB was wonderfully wicked. The pair were the best pairing in the show.
Prince Sebastian was rather wet but that’s the point.
Carrie was great when singing.

I loved the moving of the seats, it meant I was suddenly front row with a low stage. Even got a ball gown in my face during one exit.

There is work to do, tightening it up, chopping some verses from the over long songs. Frustratingly the gorgeous marry for love was far too short.
It’s loud loud or really shouty.

Overall I had a lot of fun and will happily go back later in the run.

I’m genuinely a bit mystified as to why it’s ‘not ready’ or ‘needs tightening up’

I know it’s a new show and in previews but they’ve had the longest rehearsal period known to man. Usual is 2 weeks. Feel like I’ve been seeing them go on about Cinderella for ages.

If the script is in place and the score is in place... it’s costumes and sets next to get used to. It should be in a decent place with only minor changes needed not huge music and script re drafts.

From some of the posts above it appears Cinderella needs a big chunk cutting and a dramaturg. There seems to be gaping plot holes and plot that trails away to nothing. Surely the dramatic end to Act 1 should have a wrapped up conclusion? And what’s with the sea witch and necklaces and Sebastian - all seems a little bit Little Mermaid. Did this possibly start off as a pastiche?

Maybe cuts to songs (vanquishing of the sea witch) and vastly reduced character of the key role of Godmother has altered the story to the extent where they have to regig a chunk of it to ‘make sense’. Messy.

Plus it very much sounds like Prince Charming needs to be written into a proper character rather than a lazy ‘musical’ gay stereotype.

*SPOILER*
Did some one say PC comes back from the dead? Romeo &Juliet vibes anyone?

It’s surprising as Emerald Fennell usually has her her finger on the pulse writing darkly comic stuff with ‘something to say’ maybe it started off as edgy and modern and the musical form diluted this? Musicals are a very different animal to TV and film.

I think you've nailed everyone of my pet peeves, especially about Aspects which is one of my all-time favorites

One correction, the OZ CD was somewhat quietly released during the US Tour of Love Never Dies, with the very rare step of ALW actually re-recording and inserting changes from the DVD and what the tour version sounds like:  www.amazon.com/Never-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-Studio/dp/B07D9V49Q3/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=love+never+dies+cd&qid=1624739234&sr=8-2

I liked his flamboyance initially but it soon wore off and I was distracted by his drippy partner who wafted about doing very little.  It's a mark perhaps of how far we have come that I think many people might have thought: "right-oh, he's gay, so where's the story?" (i.e. a character or person's sexuality is an irrelevance to most people).

There felt an almost intangible air of disappointment, despite his entrance, where you could almost hear the audience brains ticking over thinking "where is this going now".  I agree with many of the posts that others have written since yesterday evening.  I still believe this show can be (and will be) successful, but there are some very obvious adjustments that need to be made, specifically regarding the importance of midnight, the striking of midnight, the turgid wedding scene.  24 hours later, I still really enjoyed it but in hindsight with some helpful reminders from others who have seen the show too, I feel the production team have a little work to do through the remaining preview period.

Conversely, 24 hours later I'm realising how much there was to enjoy in it. My comments were pretty harsh, and I stand by them, but individual moments were great. It just felt like they'd come from 6 or 7 different versions of Cinderella, all of which had been cut into pieces, thrown into the air, and a selection from all the versions had been back stitched together. The bizarre Act 1 finale is a perfect case in point.

I'm really curious to hear the recording now. There must have been some serious editing since it was made, as the recording lists 38 musical numbers (mostly still untitled) and the show programme lists 29 songs, I think. Can't wait to hear what other changes might be made over the coming weeks/months/years! 

Overall I liked it. It feels very British as you can feel the influence of the pantomime tradition in the design. The opening number feels like and no doubt will feature in the future as a panto village opening number.

I was at the matinee and someone had brought some very young children which was an odd choice. Fortunately the innuendo will have gone straight over their head. 

I'm not sure how well it will translate to other countries. 

Once you see it, the logo makes much more sense.

The songs work better in context but I think we have heard the best tunes as the "singles" 

Some of the characters choices seem a bit sudden I agree with others have posted that the transition into the songs can be a bit abrupt but I assume both these areas can and will be worked on during previews. 

The director stated in the preshow introduction that the first preview was also the first time they had gone through non stop. The second preview didn't have any show stops or any obvious mistakes. There were a couple of very minor wobbles of cast members on the revolves so they are obviously still getting used to it. 

It feels like an ensemble piece in that the stage time isn't dominated by any of the lead characters. 

It feels like a proper ALW with a sweeping score as the melodies get picked up by the string section. Lots of people stayed for the full orchestra play out. 

Overall I liked it and will be interested to see it again at some point. I doubt it will have a 25 year anniversary but I think it will have a life but I'm not sure how much it will work internationally. It would definitely fall fowl of the Russian "promoting homosexuality" laws espically as it is treated as absolute non issue. 

I enthustastically joined in the standing ovation but it was an ovation regonising the effort of getting a new full sized musical on in current circumstances rather than for the piece itself. 

OMG I never knew this was a thing. Thanks so much! It's such an undervalued score IMO.

The use of the term "baby boomer" shows a level of maturity yet to be reached in the writer and undermines the attempted critique.

I thought the opening was a nod to ‘Who will buy’ from Oliver!

My concern about this has always been that it would be an older person trying to write something ‘hip’ and ‘woke’, and end up being cringeworthy. I’m not convinced that pairing ALW with a younger book writer would be enough to counter his legendary interference.

But why does he need to be flamboyant to be gay? Why can't he be daring and masculine or whatever and still be gay. Everytime musical theatre puts gay character in it has to be flamboyant and stereotypical. Why does he need to stand out. It just seems for a musical claiming to be modern and forward thinking its using old fashioned ideas that doesn't move things forward.