Review: A swirling, fashionable “Cinderella” at Drury Lane Theatre

Christmas always arrives suddenly for me when I’m at the theater, usually during the second week of November, and with a jolt. But when it comes to resplendent seasonal decor, few exceed the Drury Lane Theatre, where anyone who dares design for the stage at this time of year first has to compete with the lobby.

This year, Drury Lane doesn’t have an outright seasonal attraction but instead is staging “Cinderella,” a princess musical that, in my experience, always encourages audience members to amp up the fashion. When the kid is wearing a tiara and a gown, and many were Thursday night, parents don’t feel right accompanying them in jeans. Consequently, it’s a lovely sight.

Such formal and celebratory attire is, of course, reflected on the stage, given that this is a show about a ball, a fairy godmother with transformational fashion powers, and even a wedding. At one point Thursday, there seemed to be so much fabric twirling around on the Drury Lane stage that there might be a supply squeeze for west suburban winter brides.

First, a point of clarification. There are many “Cinderellas,” good and bad. What you are seeing here is the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein “Cinderella,” which began as a television special starring Julie Andrews in 1957 and was given a new Douglas Carter Beane book (based partly on the original teleplay) in time for a 2013 Broadway production. In this version, retooled for modern progressive sentiments, Prince Topher doesn’t just fall in love with the former kitchen maid but learns from her how to be a better ruler of the land and get rid of his oppressive prime minister (amusingly played by Jeff Parker), who has been evicting people from their homes. The stepmother (Gisela Adisa) has her own marital backstory. And one of the evil stepsisters (Christine Mayland Perkins) actually turns out to be an ally. Who knew?

If you saw the “Cinderella” at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora in 2021, that production was not this one, but something closer to the original teleplay.

Both have their pluses and minuses, neither quite comparing to the true Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musicals, and we can at least be grateful that neither is “Bad Cinderella,” may it never darken our communities.

Lissa deGuzman in "Cinderella" at Drury Lane Theatre. (Brett Beiner/HANDOUT)

It’s a bit pandering and politically correct, but Beane’s book is chipper, fun and certainly offers a more appropriate message for the title’s young fans. On the other hand, there’s a weird mismatch between the original songs, very much in the lyrical tradition, and a book where Cinderella says stuff like “I’m good.” And while we’re nerding out here, the other “Cinderella,” the one in Aurora, has better added songs.

Here in director Amber Mak’s staging, you don’t get “The Sweetest Sounds” but you do get a number originally cut from “South Pacific” and a very charming star in Lissa deGuzman (a lovely lyrical singer, too, rather than a belter), an appropriately passive but tuneful Prince Topher in Jeffrey Kringer (no match for Cinderella, which is the point here), and an emotionally rich fairy godmother courtesy of the incomparable McKinley Carter. Not that the show really uses those archaic terms, but it surely knows the box office appeal of its title.

Thanks in part to some very athletic ensemble members, Mak’s choreography adds a lot of value, too. The set and band are of modest size, but Theresa Ham’s costume design here is truly outstanding, not least for the way it gives the people of fantasyland, or wherever we are, an individualized identity.

And everyone looks fabulous to boot. On and off the stage.