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Cinderella Last night at the Music Hall I came to the realization that, now that I have seen every Rodgers & Hammerstein musical in their vast repertoire, I can say with pure honesty that I am going to dislike their musicals no matter what. They are so sugar coated for me that I feel tooth decay creeping into my mouth. Maybe it's also because when I started to do theatre in junior high school, the summer stock that I worked at kept doing R&H over & over again. Heck, I even did Carousel and South Pacific twice! Maybe its just that I cannot stomach the make believe romance and love interest plots that are in their musical books. When the love unfolds in a R&H musical, I just roll my eyes to the back of my head so many times you would think I was Linda Blair sitting next to you. At last night's performance of R&H's Cinderella, though packed to the brim with delicious casting and rich in set, light, and costume, it was that sluggish and empty book with its so-so score that left me just numb to the bone. What saved this production was, without a doubt, was its first-rate cast. One of today's real divas, Eartha Kitt, heads the cast as the Fairy Godmother. From her first entrance to her curtain call bow this elegant and regal woman took full command of the stage. The beaded gown she wore had a slit that showed those still gorgeous legs, and she still looks beautiful and sexy! I will say it does take a few minutes to get used to her unique singing vocals. They are breathy, full of smokey color, with odd clippings on certain words or phrases. But that's the Kitt voice! Her performance is sprinkled with "dahlings", and her reaction to the cat on stage is a great "wink wink" to her past. Kitt also possesses perfect comic timing and pace. Let's face it, we've never seen a sexy fairy godmother like this in a musical! Jamie-Lynn Sigler (of TV's "The Sopranos") was not in the title role; in fact she will not be here in Dallas for any of the performances due to vocal problems that occurred before the fourth of July weekend. Her understudy, Lyn Philistine, went on for her, and won me over by the end of her first song, "The Sweetest Sounds." Philistine is a beautiful actress with a pristine and pure soprano voice to match her beauty. Her stage presence is felt right from the get go. What I found truly touching was the splendid chemistry that she and her Prince (Paolo Montalban) had on the stage. Montalban reprises his TV role from "Disney's Cinderella." Mr. Montalban is tall and handsome with a rich and clean tenor vocal. His duets with Philistine are the highlights in the lukewarm score; these two actors add a lot to make those songs work. Montalban and Philistine earn special kudos for keeping the romance and the progression of their affection for each other at a realistic pace and normality. Neither actor went into over the top "love bird" swoons that seem to creep into many love interest couples on stage. For once at a R&H musical I did not roll my eyes during the romantic moments. I must confess I was slightly disappointed with Everett Quinton's performance as the evil step mother. I thought it was a perfect casting idea, but he never reached the levels of comic gold that were possible. When Quinton reached a near perfect comic moment, he would fall back. Don't get me wrong, Quinton was humorous at times, but he did not take the role as far as it could have gone. Natasha Yvette Williams did not let the weak book stop her from creating a role and performance that the audience fell in love with, that of Grace, the step-sister. Williams' use of all her actor's tools was very obvious on the stage. Using her face, body, vocal inflections, and talent to make even the simplest line cause laughter earns my respect from the get go. Alexandra Kolb performed the role of the other step-sister, Joy. Kolb falls back on "basic comic voice 101", the high pitched voice that is used countless of times in shows were there is a "dumb girl" role. The voice is funny for ten minutes, but from that point on it becomes fingernails on the chalkboard. Victor Trent Cook as Lionel, the royal steward, is terrific in both voice and energy. His facial expressions and dead on comic timing hit all the right notes and then some. Oddly enough, it was the puppeteers (Kip Driver, Kevin Duda, Darryl Reuben Hall, Jason Robinson, Patrick Wetzel, Andre Ward) bringing life to the four mice, the cat and the dove that received one of the loudest cheers from last night's audience. They are quite amusing, I must confess. I kept watching them instead of the human actors at times. I guess it does prove what W.C. Fields said about kids and animals! The cast is surrounded by rich lighting (designed by Tim Hunter), swathed in pastels, day glo colors, rich satins, silks, and other royal materials in costumes by Pamela Schofield. The set design by James Youmans is just marvelous. The glittered leaves, the glitter castle in the background, the rich woods and metals for Cinderella's house, the tasteful backdrops all added so much visually to the evening. Kudos also the technical staff for creating the special effects during the transformation of Cinderella and her coach sequence. Ken Roberson's choreography is odd and seemed out of step with the beats and pulse of the music being played in the orchestra pit. I noticed this in the first opening number of the full company; they were dancing to odd movements that didn't match the music. But this organic choreography came into full view in what I called the "what in the hell is that?" number. During the act two ball scene, three numbers are performed: the "Gavotte", then "The Cinderella Waltz" which segues into "Ten Minutes Ago". These three numbers had the cast doing bizarre hand and body gestures, then leaps and jumps at odd measures so the dancers looked like they were dancing to a totally different score than what the audience was hearing. Director Gabriel Barre very wisely borrowed the brilliant use of non traditional casting that Disney used for the TV version, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston. Barre cast this musical for the most part perfectly. There is an African American actor playing the King (the hilarious Ken Prymus), a Caucasian actress for the Queen (Leslie Becker, a perfect match to Prymus), and they are parents to a Philippine Prince (Montalban). Then to have a stepsister who is African American and various ethnic origins in its ensemble, all I can say is bravo! Barre also earns a gold star for keeping the pace and energy at a nice and fresh brisk level. Barre did not allow himself or his cast to be chained to the shoddy book. You can tell he allowed his cast to experiment and play with the book, adding new and quite funny lines here and there which actually helped the book's pace and tempo. Its very clear to me that this musical is geared to the family audience, which I support. These children are, after all, our future patrons and actors. While I did find gratification in most of the performances and the physical aspects of Cinderella, it just did not cause any deep emotion or reaction from me, nor is it a major feat in musical theatre. But if you have kids, this show is perfect for you. As for me, once was enough. Cinderella Plays Through July 22 at Music Hall at Fair Park |
