At Gateway Theatre, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella boasts modern twists
Director Johnna Wright says this belle of the ball has agency
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Photo by David Cooper
Gateway Theatre presents Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella from December 14 to 31
When the opportunity came up for Johnna Wright to direct Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella for Gateway Theatre, she jumped at the chance. After all, this is not the same old story tracing back to Charles Perault’s 1697 fairy tale named Cendrillon that people are most familiar with, or even to the 1957 TV movie starring Julie Andrews. Updated and adapted for the stage, this newer version earned nine Tony nominations in 2013 and three Tony Awards when it first appeared on Broadway. And while there’s still a prince, a fairy godmother, a big party, and a pair of glass slippers, there’s also a newfound sense of female empowerment, resilience, and agency.
“I was really excited to have the chance to work on this version of Cinderella because of the way it takes the famous story and kind of turns it on its head,” Wright (Annie: The Musical, Leading Ladies) says in an interview with Stir. “It’s very playful and fun, and at the same time, it gives the story more dimension than it usually has. Having said that, I should be clear that this version of Cinderella still delivers all the magic and romance that is in the original story. There are some unexpected additions, but everything you’d want from the fairy tale is still there.”
About those unexpected additions, she’s quick to add with a laugh: “Well, no spoilers!”
“But I think you’ll see some pretty big differences in the step family, and—probably my favourite moment—the glass-slipper storyline plays out differently,” Wright concedes. “It’s a small change but a really fun and effective one.
“Probably most importantly, the story gives Cinderella—or in this version, Ella—some actual decisions to make and some priorities in addition to marrying the prince,” she notes.
Cinderella has music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and is based on a newer book by Douglas Carter Beane and original book by Oscar Hammerstein II. In Gateway’s take, Ella is played by Ali Watson, while Kamyar Pazandeh takes on the role of the prince. Wright says the creative team is especially enjoying the masterful music of Rodgers and Hammerstein (The Sound of Music, Oklahoma). “It’s always exciting to work on material that is so well-crafted and hummable,” Wright says. “We are very lucky to have a wonderful musical director, Sean Bayntun, who finds all the heart and humour in every song, and our brilliant choreographer Nicol Spinola who is putting that same heart and humour on stage in all the dance numbers.”
Johnna Wright. Photo by David Cooper
Costumes are by Alaia Hamer. “She has her work cut out for her—so to speak—because as you know, magic happens in this story, and it involves a dress; more than one dress, actually,” says Wright, who is a two-time recipient of Vancouver’s Jessie Richardson Awards for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Production (The Merry Wives of Windsor, Bard on the Beach and The Triumph of Love, Blackbird Theatre, respectively). “We’re also having a fantastic time staging the play on our set, designed by Sophie Tang and Jenn Stewart, which takes us into ‘fairy-tale land with a twist’ in a way that is just so much fun to explore.”
Aside from magic, romance, laughter, and what Wright describes as an extra-special happy ending, this Cinderella fits with the times.
“To me, the story’s relevance comes from something the Fairy Godmother says,” Wright shares. “At one point when things are going south for Cinderella, the F.G. says, ‘If you have a dream, then very soon you’re going to have to fight for it.’ I really liked this message: the Fairy Godmother isn’t going to make everything happen for Ella. She gives Ella a chance—a magical chance—and then it’s up to Ella to know what she wants out of life and make it happen. To me that is a great message for kids of any description.”
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