Review – Cinderella: A Fairly True Story
PUBLISHED December 29th, 2015 04:00 am | UPDATED June 3rd, 2020 07:07 pm
Whether you’ve read the European folk tale (also called ‘The Little Glass Slipper’) or caught one of Disney’s multiple movies – the latest being the 2015 edition starring Lily James – you know the story of Cinderella.
Favourite moments in the story include the fairy godmother and her fantastical transformation of the servant girl into a beautiful princess, who is then transported to the ball in a pumpkin carriage drawn by mice. As with other remakes, one finds that each rendition of Cinderella, happily, doesn’t forget to include these magical bits which make the story so endearing in the first place.
From the internationally acclaimed creators of ‘Peter Pan, The Never Ending Story’, ‘Cinderella, A Fairly True Story’ is a musical creation which follows the original Cinderella storyline quite closely. Charlotte Campion plays Cinderella, a character who is beset again and again with calamity – the death of her mother and then her father is eclipsed only by the cruelty of her stepmother (who is positively witch-like, given her cackles and attempt to ‘fly’ away on a broomstick) and her two bimbotic and truly annoying stepsisters.
Although diminutive in stature, Campion’s vocals stole the show – her rendition of Bryan Adams’ ‘Everything I Do, I Do it For You’ was well done. Musically, however, I was hoping for more original scores since this was definitely one of the show’s strengths.
Other innovative additions to the plot was the use of the media/paparazzi as a backstory cum narrator element in the show. While I liked the use of photographers to open the show and interact with the audience, I felt that this angle got rather tired by the end of the show given the multiple newspaper front pages (of ‘The Cinderella Times’, no less) that the audience was made to read.
Regardless, Cinderella: A Fairly True Story provides a night of laughter and relaxation, most appropriate for those with little girls aiming to be Disney princesses!
Cinderella, A Fairly True Story runs till Monday, 4 January 2016 at the Resorts World Theatre.
To purchase tickets, please click here.
