With the tag line “a fabulous fairy tale”, this musical by Ron Lytle has an old fashion sound that pleases my tastes. The songs are simple but melodic, with more than a couple of catchy tunes like “Look at the Way” or “CinderAlbert” as part of the score. In fact, Lytle songs sound more musical than many of the new musicals that open on Broadway or Off-Broadway nowadays.
As you probably may guess, with a drag-queen as the fairy godmother and a sex change for the Cinderella character, who falls in love with the gay Prince, you’re in camp territory. But it’s all done with good taste, no one is taking this seriously and the end result is a funny take on the classic fairy tale.
As Albert (the new Cinderella), Brandon Finch has a sweet voice and have a ball with “CinderAlbert” and also delivers a sad tango “Midnight”; as the Prince, Kyle Payne delivers a strong voice and has a good moment with “Who Am I?”. Scott Phillips is the funny Godmother and shines with “Fabulous!”. One of the highlights, the hilarious “Bitch”, belongs to Jenifer Tice as the Stepmother and Lisa Otterstetter and Julia Etzel as the Stepsisters; this two also have a great time with “Somebody for Everybody”. As the Prince parents, Steve Yates and John Erreca sound convincing in their duets. One final word for Tomas Theriot who sings may favorite song of the score, the gay “Look at the Way”.
The cast is good, the heart is in the right place, the musical influences (Cole Porter, 20s musicals and the chorus numbers reminded me of “Mr. Cinders”) give it a nostalgic touch, in fact it only needs better orchestrations and a bigger orchestra. I’m sure someone like Doug Besterman (“The Producers”, “Young Frankenstein”, the movie version of “Chicago”) could turn this score into gold, until that happens it still is an enjoyable little musical score.
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