Not the real Cinderella I was looking for

I should have taken it as a sign. The heavens were downcast. But then, I love the rain and thus, I hoped for a good show.

 

As I watched the story of Cinderella unfold, it suddenly dawned on me. It was, in fact, a timeless narration of the many opposites in life.

 

The rich and the poor. The wicked and the kind. The magical and the real. The possible and the impossible. The happy and the lonely. The single and the couple. The beautiful and the unlovely. The silly and the clever. To stay or to leave. Inside or outside. Safety and adventure.

 

The musical?

 

Enchanting. The only word that can describe the stage design. Specifically in the first half. Noteworthy is how smoothly the set transitioned. The most memorable was the magical transformation of the pumpkin into a coach. And of course, the stairs. The wonderful stairs where Cinderella glides in to capture the heart of Prince Charming. A necessary part of any fairytale. The second half was mostly a repetition of the first. The costumes were glamorous. But why did the stepsisters don gowns that were ludicrous? The rationale might be to make them stand out. And they did. It seemed their silliness was a bit too silly.

 

I wonder if anyone noticed that Prince Charming seemed to be the odd one out. No, not because he was so beautifully handsome. But he was much like the Prince Charming in the movie “Enchanting” who was out of place in a modern setting. Cinderella’s Prince Charming had the Shakespearean way of talking. And he was too emotional for my liking. Another rationale in the story: he did study abroad and he got the accent there. Question… was there any electricity between them? Or was I just too far to notice the sizzle that should exist between them?

 

My favorite is the fairy godmother. She remained consistent throughout the play. Her lines were funny. An interesting development from the classic story was how she initially insisted the impossibility of achieving Cinderella’s dreams. I see it now as a way for Cinderella to remain firm in her belief that the impossible can happen to those who have faith.

 

Something was definitely missing in the music. Passion? Chemistry? That X factor that we find in models but cannot pinpoint? The music was lively yet the first act felt flat. If the purpose was to make the 2^nd act stand out, it succeeded. But not enough to carry the whole show. True, there are songs I liked. Such as “In my own little corner” and “Impossible.” But not good enough to make the show memorable. Frankly, I am beginning to forget what I saw and heard. For a moment or two during the show, I had to ask myself… did I go to a musical or to an amusing & visually breathtaking play with songs?

 

I left the show wanting for more.

 

The battle of the opposites became more palpable in the end when those if us in the balcony were deprived of seeing the heads of Prince Charming and Cinderella during the wedding ceremony. I know we paid for the cheapest among the tickets but we do deserve more than something which tasted like a pirated movie.

 

It’s elementary. Any girl or boy who had a semblance of normal childhood knows the story of Cinderella. Either it was narrated to us by our elders, we colored fairytale books or we attended birthday parties of this motif. Thus, we normally watch a musical about a well-known story not because we want to discover what happened. Instead, for a few hours in our busy lives, we desire to be transported into a world where the impossible become possible. Visually, Cinderella delivered. But as a whole? Ask me something else.