Thanks to Lisa for this article! Cinderella Review from the Chicago Tribune Stage struck 'Cinderella' adds new tricks to aid its move from TV By Richard Christiansen If the Disney organization can turn old animated movies into new stage hits, why shouldn't the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which boasts almost as well known a brand name in family entertainment, be able to do the same thing with an old television show? That seems to be the theory behind "Cinderella," the touring musical adapted (by Tom Briggs) from the original 1957 R&H TV musical and its 1997 updated version, which is spending two weeks here in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts of the Oriental Theatre. Balanced between children's fairy tale and adult musical, the production tells the story of Cinderella and her Prince in a quick two hours, even with two more songs from other Richard Rodgers shows added to pad out the stage version. The show borrows a bit from Disney's "The Lion King" by using bunraku-type puppets for the cute little mice and cat who are Cinderella's friends; and it brings on its cast in full wedding ceremony costume for a snappy happy finale. Otherwise, its scenery and special effects, though not unattractive, are relatively routine in size and technique. The score by Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II is pleasant enough, but it is often reminiscent of other tunes. "Impossible," for example, sounds like a barely reworked version of "I Whistle a Happy Tune" from "The King and I." Of the rest, there is one well-known number, Cinderella's "In My Own Little Corner," and one of the added songs, "The Sweetest Sounds" from Rodgers' 1962 musical "No Strings," is also familiar. Though not large in number, the cast has been chosen with some care. Eartha Kitt, the show's nominal star, has only a few scenes as the Fairy Godmother, but she uses her trademark growling voice, insidious laugh and prolonged caressing of consonants to make the most out of her small bit. "I'm your fairy godmother," she tells a startled Cinderella. "You got a problem with that?" Deborah Gibson, looking about the same as she did in her teen queen days as Debbie Gibson, sings the songs sweetly, with a bit of a soft rock touch in some of the arrangements by Andrew Lippa. Her handsome, able Prince, nicely blending with her in their romantic duets, is Paolo Montalban, who performed the same role in the 1997 TV movie. In the supporting rainbow cast, the expert off-Broadway actor Everett Quinton, topped with an outrageous red wig, amusingly continues the stage tradition of having the wicked stepmother portrayed by a man in drag. The buffoonish daughters are the lean, giggling Alexandra Kolb and the tubby, itching NaTasha Yvette Williams. Two Broadway musical veterans, Ken Prymus as the stolid King and Leslie Becker as the fluttery Queen, are the Prince's comic parents. Victor Trent Cook is the court's funky steward. Gabriel Barre has directed with broad strokes, and Ken Roberson has created the modest choreography.