Cinderella Eyes Up Broadway

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s newest show, Cinderella, is making moves on New York following a tremendous opening month at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre.

Just weeks into the show’s London run, producers took out a full-page advert in the New York Times promoting the British show.

Now, Andrew Lloyd-Webber has added more fuel to the speculation-fire in a post-Tonys interview, stating that, “I would think we’ll be open by late summer next year”.

Lloyd-Webber’s optimism for a Broadway run comes off the back of a host of five-star reviews for the show’s world premiere in London.

This production of Cinderella offers a new take on the classic fairy tale. This Cinderella – played by Carrie Hope Fletcher – is sassy and loud-mouthed. We meet Prince Charming’s younger brother, Prince Sebastian (Ivano Turco), who is flung into the spotlight following the mysterious disappearance of the heir to the throne.

The production is gloriously over the top and totally transports the audience to Belleville, a town that the Evening Standard sums up as, “a mashup of feudal France and modern, Love Island-style body snobbery and romantic cynicism”.

The best songs are rightly given to Carrie Hope Fletcher, from the feisty Bad Cinderella through to the more introspective I Know I Have A Heart.

Even the newly-refurbished theatre plays an active part in the production, with revolving seats dancing their way into the Ball – reminiscent of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famous production of Cats.

The production has been held as something of a bell-weather for the return of British theatre in the UK, and with a Broadway run looking all-the-more likely, perhaps Cinderella heralds the beginning of a new British invasion of Broadway.

You saw it here first. Cinderella is currently booking to the end of May 2022 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Drury Lane.