As a burgeoning, albeit un-self-aware, gay kid in the 70s, I developed an inexplicable fascination with TV and film scenes where women changed outfits quickly.
When Cher had her own show, she’d always open each episode wrapped in a fur or cape, slowly singing a few smoky bars in close-up before the key changed, the camera zoomed out, and she tossed the fur aside to reveal that week’s Bob Mackie creation. And of course, there was Lynda Carter as Diana Prince, whose 360-degree revolutions triggered the explosion signifying Wonder Woman’s entrance. And even if I wasn’t particularly interested in a particular episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, I always tuned in for the opening credits, featuring a montage including the scene where the Fairy Godmother transforms Cinderella’s worn servant’s dress into her beautiful new ball gown.
Cinderella
Through 1/7/24: Wed 1:30 PM, Thu 1:30 and 7:30 PM, Fri 7 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM; also Tue 12/19 1:30 and 7 PM; Thu 11/23 3 PM only; no show Sun 12/24; Sun 12/31 5 and 8:30 PM; Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, 630-530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com, $85.75–$96.25
I thought of all those moments as I watched Drury Lane’s new presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, featuring three such magical transformations onstage. The six-year-old in me would have loved it. The fifty-something me loved it too.
Drury Lane gets this show right all across the board—with terrific performances from both its principal cast and the hard-working ensemble, expert direction and choreography, and colorful production and costume design that should keep all ages enchanted throughout.
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, at the height of their popularity, conceived this Cinderella production as a 1957 television vehicle for Julie Andrews, who was riding the success of My Fair Lady (subsequent TV productions of Cinderella from 1965 and 1997 starred Lesley Ann Warren and Brandy Norwood, respectively). This stage version utilizes a 2013 revised script by Douglas Carter Beane (To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar) that fleshes out some characters, deletes others, and adds new themes to the proceedings.
Lissa deGuzman is outstanding as Ella, who shows off her vocal chops early on with Cinderella’s signature tune “In My Own Little Corner.” Interestingly, the name “Cinderella” here is a snide nickname spoken with pure venom by Gisela Adisa’s Madame, her stepmother who’s very wicked—and fun to watch. The boy sitting in front of us jumped from his seat when she ripped the treasured coat belonging to Ella’s father early on.
Jeffrey Kringer is similarly quite good as Prince Topher—this version of the story beefs up the usually thankless Prince Charming trope. Kringer can sing and dance with the best of them and really rides on the energy created onstage by director and choreographer Amber Mak and the rest of her team. The ensemble’s dance numbers were expertly choreographed—I gasped at some of the somersaults from Cinderella’s horsemen. The special effects—including the heretofore mentioned transformations of not just Ella but Marie (McKinley Carter), her fairy godmother too—were skillfully done as well.
This is a great show for kids, but some in the audience started to get restless towards the end. The script here features a few extra story beats to flesh out the original 75-minute teleplay—Ella makes two trips to the palace here, and there were a few times the story felt like it was ending but just kept going. A subplot about bringing class consciousness to the kingdom was at times ham-handed. But this Cinderella’s overall theme—making the effort to treat everyone around you with kindness—is something that both kids and adults could stand to hear more of right now.