Review: Cinderella the Musical - Melbourne
★★★★☆
A perfectly lovely night at Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, now playing at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, before heading to Sydney and Brisbane.
The show begins set as Cinderella’s fairytale world in the whimsical wood setting of the show, and transforms into the castle for the Ball, full of luscious costumes and grandeur you would expect from a ball from a Prince. Shubshri Kandidah is a delightful Ella, with a voice as radiant and clear as a bell, perfectly paired with Ainsley Melham’s Prince Topher, who’s pop song resonance and charm make him the perfect prince. The show is chock full of stand out cameo performances, from Bianca Bruce’s comedic timing as whingy stepsister Charlotte, and Matilda Moran as the inquisitive, open minded other step sister, Gabrielle, to the moments where Sylvie Paladino as the Fairy Godmother steals the show over and over again - her incredible transformation from homeless crazy Marie to Fairy Godmother is breath taking, and if you didn’t realise that you haven’t lived til Queen Sylvie is flying through the air like Glinda the Good Witch, you do now.
Impossible/It’s Possible is a stand out number on the show, from the transformations of the Fairy Godmother and her weaving her magic, to the strength of the performances and the lovely centre point of Act One, where Ella feels empowered. Bruce brings comedy and sass to open Act Two with ‘Stepsisters Lament’ leading the women in a feisty, fiery, but almost self loathing wail about the Prince’s lack of interest in their looks or personalities. Use of puppetry to create the woodland creatures is lovely - just like the song, this is an all round lovely night of theatre. The extension of the story from the fairy tale, from Cinderella leaving her shoe in the one encounter to a multi-night meeting of Cinderella and Prince Topher, are slightly less believable, but equally as lavish and well woven into the show.
Costumes are resplendent and opulent, exactly what you would expect from a co-production with Opera Australia, with no expense spared on the lavish nature of ball scenes and castle moments.
Attempts at modernisation of the show are somewhat successful - Josh Gardiner shines with awkwardness and passion as Jean-Michel, leading the town to revolution with politics, education, and a move to a democratic monarchy, and there are moments where the cast make fun of the outdated nature of the show, with Ella becoming political advisor, forgiving family member, kind to all, but still all attempts to give her more agency and strength (which Kandidah performs beautifully), are stripped away in the truly gorgeously performed “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful”, where Prince Topher asks whether Ella is any good actually, or only good because he loves her.
The show is still settling - rehearsals for the show have been rocked by Covid and illness, so there’s a general sense of getting the show together - there’s some slow choreography in the opening number and the ball ensemble choreography not quite spaced out, with people very close to crashing into each other; there are moments the cast didn’t know where moving set pieces will be, and a bit of a lacklustre start to the show - the energy builds as the show goes on, but the gorgeous music of Rogers and Hammerstein doesn’t quite fill the cavernous Regent Theatre (though I also think this is not Rogers and Hammerstein’s strongest score - possibly because it was written for a television film, and not the stage).
Don't leave your glass slippers behind (and if you need some, Nine West have launched an official Cinderella collection for the show), and head to the Regent Theatre to escape into the fairytale.
This review first appeared on Theatre People, which has since closed, and become Theatre Matters.
