Drury Lane Theatre's charming 'Cinderella' delights the ears and the eyes
“Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella” — ★ ★ ★
Drury Lane Theatre's revival of “Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella” is easy on the ears and on the eyes. Lovely to behold and even lovelier to hear, director/choreographer Amber Mak's fetching, prettily sung production (with music direction by Carolyn Brady) is the 2013 Broadway version of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical confection that premiered on television in 1957 with Julie Andrews in the titular role.
Subsequent productions, including the 1965 TV revival starring Lesley Ann Warren and the 1997 television remake starring Brandy Norwood, underwent revisions. But the score — featuring such original gems as “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible” and “Ten Minutes Ago” — remained intact. For the most part, so did the story.
Until 2013, when writer Douglas Carter Beane (“Sister Act,” “Xanadu”) revised the book, pairing sentiment, social consciousness and a smidgen of snark to tell the story of a more empowered, more aware Cinderella who — along with the prince — is a young person struggling with her identity.
Fearing she'll be rejected if she reveals herself to the prince, Cinderella (known as Ella) conceals her identity and her poverty. Meanwhile, the prince, who is preparing to ascend the throne, is in the middle of an existential crisis that finds him questioning his life purpose. That's not all. This “Cinderella” also addresses classism, social injustice and political corruption, heady stuff for a family-centered tuner.
That said, there's nothing wrong with tweaking the fairy tale, but by emphasizing the prince's struggle as he does, Beane shifts the focus away from the titular character, sidelining her in her own story. (For the record, the audience at Thursday's opening, including young girls wearing sparkling tiaras, didn't seem to mind).
Mak's elegant waltzes and stylish gavottes (kudos to the dancer/athletes who play Cinderella's footmen and horses) accompany the action that unfolds on Riw Rakkulchon's nicely suggestive, unfussy set, which includes a marvelous pumpkin coach, beautiful in its simplicity. Theresa Ham's silk and brocade, jewel-toned gowns (several of which transform from peasant dress to glittering ballgown in the blink of an eye) are simply sumptuous.
Mak's sweet, romantic production stars a winsome pair of Drury Lane newcomers — the sweet-voiced Lissa deGuzman as the socially conscious Ella and Jeffrey Kringer, who possesses a lovely tenor and tousled curls, as Topher, the charming, somewhat adrift prince.
Jeff Parker plays Sebastian, Topher's scheming senior adviser, who oppresses the poor and whose charitable acts are purely transactional. He encourages the prince to pay Ella after she offers him water, explaining that Topher should “give her some of your things so she doesn't have a revolution and take all of your things.”
Gisela Adisa (whose honeyed voice impresses when she speaks and sings) plays Madame, Ella's social-climbing stepmother, conscious of the family's precarious perch between the “upper-middle class and the lower-upper class.”
Alanna Lovely is deliciously nervy stepsister Charlotte, who together with her fellow noblewomen takes off her shoes during the comically cranky “Stepsister's Lament.” Mak's purposeful staging is a reminder that not every woman removes her shoes to catch a prince, some do so to ease their aching feet.
Christine Mayland Perkins plays stepsister Gabrielle, whose budding romance with Jean-Michel (Christopher Llewyn Ramirez), a peasant activist for social and economic justice, inspires her to reject class prejudice and embrace democratic principles.
Lastly, golden-voiced McKinley Carter (resplendent in purple) plays Marie, the homeless woman turned fairy godmother who, as she prepares to help make Ella's dreams come true, offers this advice: “Don't wait for everything to be perfect,” she says, “just go.”
Words to live by.
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Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com
Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday through Jan. 7
Tickets: $85.75-$96.25, dinner-theater packages available
Running time: About 2 hours, 10 minutes, with intermission
Parking: In the adjacent lot
Rating: For all ages