THEATRE REVIEW: Cinderella - Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester.

Rarely has a production taken so long to get off the ground, but due to a certain virus this particular show has been 2 years longer in the making than normal; and then, due to the leading lady having a minor accident, the postponement of the press night performance, it was almost too much... however, the one thing that I can say with absolute alacrity and candour, it was most certainly worth the wait!

The production values of this show were the best I have ever seen from any show at this venue so far. So much thought, consideration and creative skill had been wrung into every aspect of this production, but especially the fantastic SFX combined with the imaginative lighting and composite set. For all of this we simply must credit Aaron J Dootson (lighting design), George Reeve (projections), and Elly Wdowski (set design).

With a title like 'Cinderella', and with it being performed at this time of year, it might be quite natural to assume that this is a pantomime.. but you'd be wrong. There are elements of the genre present within the show - and under a different director, it could easily have got quite out of hand! - but this is a Musical, and written by one of Musical Theatre's most celebrated partnerships, Messrs Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Admittedly, I have never seen a production of this show before, but I am the proud owner of two recordings of it, and in both cases, the recordings make the show much more jokey and pantomimic than the show I witnessed this evening. Perhaps, because pantomime doesn't exist as a genre in the USA, they were far more at ease to play around with it. Here, under the direction of Hope Mill's own Joseph Houston, we were in pure Romantic Musical Theatre territory, and the show was all the better for it. With just as exciting and beautifully executed choreography from Joseph Houston's husband and co-founder of Hope Mill Theatre, William Whelton. This was pure theatrical magic! (and yes, you can quote me on that!)

However, mentioning the USA, there was one - and only one - slight issue this particular reviewer had with this production, and that was the cast's accents. Sometimes it was British English, sometimes it was American English, but most of the time it was a curious mixture of the two, which in the 1940s and 1950s, Hollywood stars tried to pass-off as British and became known as 'Mid-Atlantic'. I was, and still am, very uncertain as to why this curious mix of accents was used. My only rationale being that it was written by Americans using American terminology and speech patterns, and so maybe the dialogue simply flowed better with a 'Mid-Atlantic' styled speech. (?)

However, accents aside, this is a treat for all the family, and this season's 'must-see' show. I do believe the musical has gone through several revisions since it was first performed as a TV broadcast in 1957 starring Julie Andrews, and has rarely seen the light of day this side of the Atlantic - this being the Northern Premiere of the show. However, I also believe that this version is the most musical-like version and the updates and changes made to the score and libretto over the years have served the musical well - which is rarely the case. 

Taking the leading role of (Cinder)Ella is Grace Mouat, heading an extremely strong and talented cast,in a fast-moving, slick, and quite astounding production of a slight variant on a well-known fairy story. Go and see it before it closes on the 11th December!

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 17.11.22