MIDNIGHT– The Cinderella Musical REVIEW 25 June 2023 **1/2

MUSICAL THEATRE

Music & Lyrics by John Foreman & Anthony Costanzo, one song by Kate Miller-Heidke

Book: Dean Murphy and Pip Mushin

At Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, until 18 July 2023

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars:**1/2

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 8 July 2023. KH

Midnight the Musical_photo PiaJohnson

Midnight – The Cinderella Musical, is a new Australian musical with plenty of potential and several exceptional musical theatre performers including Lucy Durack, Verity Hunt-Ballard and Matt Lee. However, the star power does not disguise the limitations of the production as an adaptation of the Cinderella story with its lead character, Ella (Brianna Bishop).

 

The conceit of the production is that a young girl is reading the Cinderella story and adapting the content and characters as she reads. Dean Murphy and Pip Mushin’s book attempts to update the fairy tale to make it a modern commentary on class, money, power and a corrupt monarchy.

 

Unfortunately, the book is clumsy, undercooked and lacking a coherent narrative through-line. The original Cinderella has a clear plot, characters and relationships so, to mess with those, there needs to be a very strong spine to the revamped story line. The adaptation could include the contemporary issues in the original story, but that requires more skilful and cunning plotting.

 

Sadly, the dialogue is also trite and cheesy, with too many glib lines, and modern lingo and colloquialisms such as 'Great!', 'OK’ or 'Fine' that clash with the period of the production, its characters, social structures and even the costumes.

 

The music, by John Foreman and Anthony Costanzo, has a few singable songs but, overall, the music is derivative and the lyrics are predictable. Along with the problems with the book, the direction, also by Murphy and Mushin, is unimaginative. Their biographies emphasise screen direction and writing so perhaps this points to the problem: a lack of experience with stage and specifically musical theatre direction.

 

Ella repeatedly talks about the King’s (Shane Jacobson) crippling taxes that cause the poverty, hunger and deprivation of the commoners. She spouts modern views on class, power, feminism and rebellion, but these never come to fruition. Although she finds Prince (Thomas McGuane) – whose name is Charming – weak, entitled, indulged and generally a spoiled brat, she still falls head over heels for him the moment she meets him in the marketplace, and pursues him, on the pretext that she wants to urge him to use his power and privilege for the good of the people. She inevitably compromises for love in the end.

 

The highlights of this production are the performances of those aforementioned stalwarts of musical theatre, although they cannot compensate for the limitations of the production.

 

The charismatic Hunt-Ballard is a vivid villainess as Ella’s stepmother who becomes wicked eventually, and her outstanding voice makes her song, My Time, livelier and more compelling. Durack, in her inimitable way, is perky and adorable as Ms Madrina, even though this fairy godmother doesn’t make an appearance until act two and her main song, You Are the One, would make more sense as a love duet between the leads.

 

The greatest highlight is Lee’s exhilarating and comical song and dance, Stuffed!, that has the crowd cheering – partly because they were thoroughly entertaining but also because they were thrilled to finally see an outstanding musical theatre turn.

 

Bishop is engaging, has a fine voice and plays Ella with cheekiness, while McGuane is suitably boyish and smug as Prince.

 

Midnight is crying out for more magic, not only in the story, but in the composition, writing and directing. We want more Australian musicals, but this one needs a big red pen and some rigorous dramaturgical assistance before it hits the stage for a second season. 

 

by Kate Herbert 

 

Cast

Brianna Bishop - Ella

Shane Jacobson – The King

Thomas McGuane - Prince

Lucy Durack – Ms Madrina

Verity Hunt Ballard – Madame Bellington

Matt Lee - Andre

Kristie Nguy – Rosalie Bellington

Melanie Bird – Tiffany Bellington

Father – Raphael Wong

Stella – various children

Alessandra Merlo – Princess of Verona

Lyall Brooks – Emperor Cloverbelli

 

Creative Team

Music and lyrics by John Foreman and Anthony Costanzo & featuring an exclusive song by Kate Miller-Heidke

Direction/Book: Dean Murphy and Pip Mushin

Choreography: Kelly Aykers

Musical Direction: Anthony Barnhill

Set Design: James Browne

Costumes: Harriet Oxley

Lighting: Trudy Dalgleish

Midnight the Musical_photo PiaJohnson