{"id":873,"date":"2007-12-21T12:24:23","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/21\/collins-brightens-frys-lame-cinders\/"},"modified":"2015-03-19T12:47:39","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T12:47:39","slug":"collins-brightens-frys-lame-cinders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=873","title":{"rendered":"THEATRE REVIEW: Stephen Fry’s pantomime ‘Cinderella’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CINDERELLA<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 The traditional British pantomime, the seasonal romp that mixes fairy tales with broad comedy and lots of innuendo, is given a gay makeover by Stephen Fry in “Cinderella” at the Old Vic.<\/p>\n

Many of the traditional elements are in place with men playing the Ugly Sisters, now named Dolce (Mark Lockyer) and Gabbana (Hal Fowler) and a flamboyant Fairy Godmother (Pauline Collins, pictured below).<\/p>\n

But the principal boy, usually played by a woman, actually is a boy (Joseph Millson as Prince Charming), while Buttons (Paul Keating) has a crush not on Cinderella (Madeleine Worrall) but on the prince’s aide de camp, Dandini (Oliver Chopping).<\/p>\n

\"Pauline<\/a>There are colorful sets and lively music by Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley (“The Full Monty”), but the whole thing feels rushed, as if it were put together at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Also, the tone of Fry’s innuendo probably is too vulgar for little kids, with the emphasis on mispronunciation so that “her highness” becomes “her anus” and “West Virginia” becomes “west vagina.”<\/p>\n

Fry’s erudition also is on display with references to Plato and terms like “pathological inanition” to describe Cinderella at her most pathetic, but it lacks his usual flair.<\/p>\n

The character actually isn’t that drab, as Worrall makes the mistreated heiress who does go to the ball quite chipper, and her scenes with Keating’s Buttons are good fun.<\/p>\n

The two share a love song but not for each other. While Cinderella sings of her longing for the prince, Buttons chimes in with a similar regard for the handsome Dandini. In Fry’s panto world, such affections end up being fully requited, but a happy ending always is required.<\/p>\n

The Ugly Sisters are appropriately hairy and gross, but a slapstick sequence involving custard pies appears to be done on the cheap and is staged quite poorly.<\/p>\n

British radio personality Sandi Toksvig brings a bright insouciance to the role of narrator of the piece and Collins brightens the entire show whenever she appears as a Cockney Fairy Godmother.<\/p>\n

Ian McKellen set the standard for pantomime at Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic the past two years with his Widow Twankey in “Aladdin,” but Fry doesn’t come close to matching it.<\/p>\n

Venue: Thee Old Vic, runs through Jan. 20; Cast: Pauline Collins; Madeleine Worrall; Paul Keating; Debbie Chazen; Mark Lockyer; Hal Fowler; Joseph Millson; Oliver Chopping; Matthew White; Penny Layden; Narrator: Sandi Toksvig; Book-lyrics: Stephen Fry; Music: Anne Dudley; Director: Fiona Laird; Set designer: Stephen Brimson Lewis; Lighting designer: Tim Mitchell; Choreographer: Francesca Jaynes.<\/p>\n

This review appeared in The Hollywood Reporter.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 The traditional British pantomime, the seasonal romp that mixes fairy tales with broad comedy and lots of innuendo, is given a gay makeover by Stephen Fry in “Cinderella” at the Old Vic. Many of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,16],"tags":[2904,2487,1734,2905],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-theatre","tag-cinderella","tag-old-vic","tag-pauline-collins","tag-stephen-fry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5356,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/5356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}