Show Preview
“Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
Nov. 3-8.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. Tickets start at $33. www.FoxTheatre.org/Cinderella, call 1-855-285-8499
Cinderella-inspired dress drive
Patrons can donate gently used prom dresses at a donation table set up in the lobby of the Fox Theatre before each performance, or by visiting the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta booth set up at various area festivals during the months of October and November. For more information on the festivals where Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta will collect dresses, go to www.athenaswarehouse.org or www.foxtheatre.org/Cinderella.
Cinderella will make its debut at the Fox Theatre next week, complete with a pumpkin carriage, fairy godmother and, of course, glass slippers.
But “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” featuring music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and based on a new book by Douglas Carter Beane, will present a new take on the classic fairy tale about a young woman who is transformed from a chambermaid into a princess.
This touring production’s Cinderella is more than a pretty face with the right shoe size. She’s a spirited, strong young woman who will only marry the prince if it happens on her terms.
Cinderella is the only musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for TV, debuting in 1957 starring Julie Andrews. In 2013, the show made its Broadway debut. The show will be at the Fox Tuesday, Nov. 3, through Sunday, Nov. 8.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently interviewed Beane by phone to discuss the changes he made while also staying true to fairy tale origins.
Q: Talk about the changes you made to Cinderella.
A: I don’t think I would have done the project at all if I hadn’t become the father of a daughter. I think that changes your outlook. … “Cinderella,” you certainly go, “that’s a very odd story to be telling little girls.” You know, keep suffering and someone wonderful will come along and change everything. You will meet someone cute under false pretenses and he will fall in love with you. And on the first meeting, which seems a little psychotic. So I was very leery about my daughter getting that story. I went back to the French version by Charles Perrault, and I was so taken by it because it seemed like a real “girl power” kind of story. It was about a girl who changes everyone around her by being positive and upbeat. And she had a stepsister who was a friend. And she met the prince not just once, but a couple of times. So it was things like that that made me think it is a cool story.
Q: What does your daughter think of the show?
A: My daughter Gabriel (I named one of the stepdaughters after her), who just turned 9, has seen it a number of times and she loves it. What is so heartening to me is so many times when people figure out who I am at a theater, on the way out, a lot of mothers and fathers will thank me. They know the work I did and the changes I made and they can laugh and they can have a good time, but they also know kids are getting a good message about responsibility, forgiveness and kindness. Three little things we used to learn back in the day before reality television taught us to just slap people.
Q: What elements of the story did you feel were essential to keep?
A: I tried to keep every bit of the elements and give tweaks to them all — like losing a glass slipper to find someone, and the fairy godmother and the clock striking 12 and running away and all of that good stuff. … But the big thing for me was Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote this amazing score where the fairy godmother doesn’t say “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.” She says, “Impossible things are happening every day.” Now, isn’t that the most spectacular thing to ever tell anyone? Impossible things are happening every day. Get in line. Make one happen now. I just think that is terrific.
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