Bad Cinderella to close on Broadway, ending Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 43-year streak
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Linedy Genao stars as the title character in Bad Cinderella. The musical will conclude on June 4.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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NEW YORK – Bad Cinderella, a revisionist riff on the classic fairy tale, will close on June 4, bringing to an end, at least for the time being, English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 43-year streak of shows on Broadway.
The latest musical, which opened on March 23, was not the pinnacle of that career – it was greeted on Broadway by hostile reviews, garnered zero Tony nominations and struggled at the box office. Last week, it played to houses that were only 54 per cent full and grossed US$326,303 (S$434,686), making it the lowest-grossing musical on Broadway.
It fared slightly better in London, and not just because “bad” was not part of the title there – critics had looked on it more favourably when it opened in the West End after multiple pandemic-related delays, but it had only a modest run and a closing clouded by the way the cast was informed and some of the words Lloyd Webber used to describe the turn of events.
The musical is, like most Cinderella stories, about a shabbily treated young woman whose fortunes change when she meets a prince. The twists in this production are that the protagonist is rebellious, Prince Charming is gay and beauty standards are oppressive.
Besides music by Lloyd Webber, who is best known as the wildly successful composer of hit musicals like Cats, Evita and The Phantom Of The Opera, Bad Cinderella features a book by English actress-director Emerald Fennell (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the 2020 film Promising Young Woman) and lyrics by David Zippel.
It is directed by Laurence Connor, who previously enjoyed more success directing Lloyd Webber’s 2015 musical School Of Rock.
Bad Cinderella was capitalised for up to US$19 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; that money has not been recouped.
The musical’s lead producer is lawyer Christine Schwarzman. She and her husband, Blackstone billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, are major players in New York’s financial and philanthropic circles.
Mrs Schwarzman has become increasingly active as a producer on Broadway through her production company No Guarantees, and she is also a lead producer of Fat Ham, which won the Pulitzer Prize in drama in 2022 and is nominated for best play at the upcoming Tony Awards.
At the time of its closing, Bad Cinderella will have played 33 preview performances and 85 regular performances. NYTIMES
