Thanks to Lisa for this article!
A review from the Courier-Journal

'Cinderella' 
'Cinderella' shows you can push a good thing only so far 

By GEORGE HUBBARD  © The Courier-Journal
March 7, 2001

"Cinderella," the Broadway Series presentation of the Rodgers 
and Hammerstein musical made originally for television, came to 
the stage of Whitney Hall at Kentucky Center for the Arts last 
night, and left nothing to the imagination.
Which is to say -- no gag was forgotten, no punch line was left 
unmilked, no cliche was left unexplored; some of it was as close 
to the bad old days of musical theater as one can get. And the 
score, one ofRodgers' weakest, even with additions from a couple 
of other shows, sounded very "canned" and fake, and certainly 
sounded nothing like the original orchestrations.

Fortunately, there was Cinderella herself, Jamie-Lynn Sigler in 
her first performance of the role. She was beautiful and 
winsome, just about perfect for the part, in fact. Her singing 
was just so-so, with little finesse as yet, but that will surely 
come as she grows into the role. Her appearance in the ballroom 
scene was dazzling, and her dancing was as fluid and graceful as 
the rather cramped setting would allow. Her duet with the prince 
in this scene, "Ten Minutes Ago," was the best music of the 
evening. "The Sweetest Sounds," borrowed from Rodgers' "No 
Strings," didn't work as well.

It was difficult to figure out just where this "once upon a time 
in a kingdom far away" was supposed to be. Most of the costuming 
was in the expected fairy-tale style, but some of the getups at 
the ball (and some of the hair styles) looked more like 1960s 
suburbia. The color scheme throughout was so vivid that I longed 
for my sunglasses. The palace set was surely borrowed from one 
of those old science fiction movies, complete with columns that 
looked like lava lamps on steroids.

Paolo Montalban was a rather stiff Prince Christopher, but that 
seemed to be the director's fault, since his dancing was smooth 
and elegant. His singing was pleasant also, in fact the best 
voice in the company.

Eartha Kitt as the Fairy Godmother heads the billing, but the 
part isn't really that great, and doesn't seem to utilize her 
best features. She does get to show off her legs, which are 
still fabulous, but that husky voice never really gets a chance 
to break loose.

"Fol-De-Rol" was hampered by truly dreadful choreography, and 
the lyrics of "Impossible" were difficult to catch.

Everett Quinton nearly walks away with the show in the travesty 
role of the Stepmother, and his red wig was to kill for! I 
wished for a solo number for him -- his insane combination of 
Mame Dennis and Dolly Levi should have been used more.

NaTasha Yvette Williams and Alex andra Kolb were Grace and Joy, 
the stepsisters, and I can't decide which was funnier. Their 
duet, "Stepsisters' Lament," after the prince has waltzed away 
with Cinderella was the funniest number in the show. Over-
played, over-costumed, over-made up, over-done all around, for 
sure. But a scream -- and that's what they are supposed to be.

Lionel, the long-suffering and ever-resourceful Court 
Chamberlain, was killingly played by Victor Trent Cook.

The White Mice, the Dove and Charles the cat are puppets 
manipulated by men dressed in dark clothing, sort of like 
Japanese stagehands. They're awful, awful cute, but at least 
they don't break into song. This isn't Disney, after all.

"A Lovely Night," Cinderella's song to stepmother and 
stepsisters after the ball, is the cleverest song in the show, 
and reveals the pert side of Cinderella's character, rescuing 
her from being all sweetness and light.

The transformation of pumpkin to coach, mice to horses, and of 
Cinderella from rags to ball gown, is managed with lots of smoke 
and lights. It works pretty well.

If you go . . .
Today-Friday (March 9), 8 p.m.; Saturday (March 10), 2 and 8 
p.m.; Sunday (March 11), 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Whitney Hall, Kentucky 
Center for the Arts, Sixth and Main streets.