Rob Price
In this months look at live performances I am opting to examine three shows all currently running on Broadway and all based on other classical material. Hadestown is a modern retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. & Juliet, a continuation of Romeo and Juliet, if Juliet had not killed herself. And finally, Bad Cinderella, a modern retelling of the Cinderella fairytale.
Hadestown: In the bitter cold of winter, Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love, but on the verge of starvation and frostbite, Eurydice follows Hades to his underground factory, Hadestown with the promise of escaping poverty and the cold. Orpheus, a songwriter, makes the perilous journey to the underworld to save Eurydice, but must convince Hades to let her go. His song reminds Hades of his love for Persephone, and agrees to let them go, but there are conditions, and they are not easily kept.
Music, Lyrics and book are all by Anais Mitchell and has a silkie old time jazz feel. The setting feels more like the 1920s than ancient Greece. The musical was originally staged in Vermont in 2006 moved to Off-Broadway in 2016, London in 2018 and finally Broadway in 2019 being nominated for 14 and winning 8 the Tony Awards including Best Musical, Original Score, Featured Actor, Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design, Direction and Orchestration. The show is still playing on Broadway and in 2021 a national tour commenced.
& Juliet: This is a coming of age “Jukebox” musical featuring the music of Swedish songwriter Max Martin and tells a “What If” story based on what would happen if Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet fame, decided not to take her life. This is a story told by Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway, who has come to see his latest play, but suggests that Juliet doesn’t die. The result is a play that the couple attempt to write together while working out their own marital woes and writing themselves into the story. Juliet and her friends escape to Paris to prevent Juliet’s family forcing her into a convent, while there they sneak into a party (sound familiar) and once again they all fall in love, but the course of their new romances does not run smoothly, particularly when Romeo returns from the dead.
The show uses known pop songs made famous by the Backstreet Boys,Britney Spears, Pink, Kay Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Bon Jovi and many more with songs like “Larger than Life”, “I Want it That Way”, “…Baby One More Time”, and “It’s My Life”. The musical opened in 2019 in Manchester England and moved to the West End later that year. It did a pre-Broadway run in Toronto before moving to Broadway at the end of 2022.
Bad Cinderella (a.k.a. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella): This is a clever and modern retelling of the Cinderella story. The town of Belleville has won the “Most Attractive Town” award for 50 years running, but unfortunately this year some graffiti on a statue honoring the perfect Prince Charming who died in battle against a dragon causes them to lose. The town blames a rebellious, goth maid named Cinderella. To save the reputation of the town, the Queen announces a ball to find Sebastian, Charming’s awkward and shy younger brother, a bride. Sebastian is in love with Cinderella, and she him, but neither have admitted their feelings to the other, and as is the case in these fairytales, an evil stepmother gets in the way of their love. Sebastian is being forced to marry someone he does not love, breaking Cinderella’s heart. Can the two find their way into each other’s arms? Watch and find out!
The show opened in the West End in 2019 and just made the leap across the pond to Broadway in February 2023. Music is composed by the renowned Andrew Lloyd Weber with lyrics by David Zippel and book by Emerald Fennell. The London production has garnered mostly positive reviews with The Guardian giving it five stars. But the Broadway production has received mostly negative reviews calling it “vulgar, sexed up and dumbed down” and The New York Post giving it one out of four stars calling it “a mess with multiple personality disorder…”.
Everything old is once again new, and the plots of classical literature, myths and fairy tales are a font of resources to give inspiration to new and exciting shows. These three productions are all currently running on Broadway, but will undoubtedly make their way around the country.