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# REVIEW: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cinderella’
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/review-andrew-lloyd-webbers-cinderella/
- Published: 2022-06-08T12:00:46.000Z
- Updated: 2022-06-08T10:26:51.000Z
- Description: Brian Butler is enchanted by Lloyd Webber’s latest musical, slated to close this week
- Author: Brian Butler
- Tags: Arts, Musical Theatre, Reviews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ivano Turco

The story of a wretched girl who longs to go to the Royal Ball and escape her dreadful sisters and stepmother has had lots of incarnations – from panto and ballet to full-blown **Rodgers and Hammerstein** musical.

The hype around the launch of **Andrew Lloyd Webber**’s musical version of **Cinderella** was scuppered by the pandemic on not one but two occasions, causing it to open and shut and making audiences wary of booking.

I’ve been a sceptic all along its precarious journey, but two good friends persuaded me to see it before it shuts next weekend. And wow, am I glad I did succumb.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/rebecca-trehearn-andrew-lloyd-webbers-cinderella-photo-credit-tristram-kenton-1024x693-1.jpg)

A scene from Cinderella @ Gillian Lynne Theatre. ©Tristram Kenton

**Carrie Hope Fletcher** in the title role is megastar quality. Her feisty, grunge-looking rebellion is wonderful, and is matched by an incredible singing voice that is a joy to hear in the magnificent, soaring songs.

**Ivano Turco** plays the awkward second-in-line Prince Sebastian with a coy, self-effacing charm that is blown apart by his dancing and his fantastic powerhouse of a voice – especially in *Only You, Lonely You* – the outstanding song of this rather long show.

Comedy comes at you from all directions – not only **Georgina Castle** and **Laura Baldwin** as the *TOWIE* sisters Marie and Adele, but the comic brilliance of the truly dreadful stepmother of **Victoria Hamilton-Barritt**. Her duet with **Rebecca Trehearn**’s Queen – *I Know You* – will become a staple of drag queens everywhere.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/carrie-hope-fletcher-victoria-hamilton-barritt-andrew-lloyd-webbers-cinderella-photo-credit-tristram-kenton-1024x779-1.jpg)

A scene from Cinderella @ Gillian Lynne Theatre. ©Tristram Kenton

If you’re lucky enough to to sit in certain seats you become a full participant in the Palace Ball, but other than that the scenic elements – by **Gabriela Tylesova** – are fairy-tale and delightfullly playful. *Killing Eve* writer **Emerald Fennell** provides a book that surprises and is ultra-modern and relevant and **David Zippel**’s lyrics are clever and thoughtful.

There’s a lot to keep a queer audience happy – from the muscular-yet-camp courtiers, the Hunks, who are full of testosterone and a lot else too. And there’s even a gay marriage – not the principals – which seems a bit token-ish but is a crowd pleaser.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ivano-turco-ensemble-andrew-lloyd-webbers-cinderella-photo-credit-tristram-kenton-1024x768-1.jpg)

A scene from Cinderella @ Gillian Lynne Theatre. ©Tristram Kenton

So why is it closing? Multiple reasons, I guess – it’s now playing to big houses, but not big enough, and it has had a very rocky ride in its year or so on and off the stage. In my mind it’s one of His Lordhsip’s best musical scores, giving a nod to **Herman**, **Sondheim**, and his own previous shows, and with a few cuts, could be up there with *Phantom* and *Sunset Boulevard*.

It’s scheduled for Broadway next March and I bet it’ll be back in the West End before the clock strikes midnight.

***Cinderella* is at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, London until June 12.**