Warning: This post will contain plot spoilers for the show’s mentioned. Proceed at your own risk!
MarqueePolitics has been busy traveling and just returned from a whirlwind weekend in New York City seeing four shows: Matilda, The Last 5 Years, Pippin and Cinderella. And while each musical was different in its style and staging, one thought kept popping into my head. Sometimes it’s not the story that counts, but how you tell it!
Matilda sailed into Broadway from London last month with a lot of hype and dazzling reviews. Yet, it was the most anticlimactic-boring musical I have sat thru in a long, long time. I arrived at this summation when heading to the men’s room at intermission, thinking about the Act I Fi
nale and simply saying, “That’s it?”
Based on the Roald Dahl book, Matilda centers on an extremely intelligent five-year old girl. Despite having parents who hate her, and a nasty headmistress, she’s able to conquer life’s problems using her intelligence and, later on, telekinetic powers.
The problem with the telekinetic plot twist is that for a good 70% of the show, Matilda uses her intelligence to outwit those who wish her ill-will. This shtick maybe cute, but by Act II it becomes quite predictable. When Matilda’s telekinetic discovery finally is made, it arrives in the form of Matilda knocking over a glass of water. This discovery had a feeling of suspense comparable to hanging wallpaper.
I know the British are stereotyped as being rather dull, bloated and uptight, but that’s exactly how Matilda came off. It was charming, yet dreadfully dull. Good stories hold your attention, Matilda forced my attention to think about which bar I would frequent after the show.
If Matilda was prim and proper, than Cinderella was its musical sibling of an adverse nature. Originally a 90-minute Rodgers & Hammerstein (R&H) television musical, the show was elongated by one hour for its Broadway debut this spring. To fill the gap, the producers imported music from other R&H shows a
nd commissioned a new book (the spoken text of a musical) to be written.
The result was a mismatched narrative of a show, akin to wearing a tuxedo shirt and jacket with gym shorts and flip flops. Cinderella is a classic fairy-tale where formality, elegance, manners and grace are as essential as the white ball gown and glass slippers. Yet the words being spoken out of the characters mouth placed them in a B-movie comedy circa 2002.
While the new book attempted to freshen-up the show’s well-worn plot, the use of modern slang and colloquialisms not only cheapened the characters, but a lovely musical. Cinderella is a reminder that in musical theater, music and lyrics simply don’t tell the story. They ONLY work when combined with a well written book.
Storytelling maters….
Despite technological advances in stagecraft, Matilda and Cinderella confirmed that nothing can overrule a well told story. Matilda and Cinderella were nice productions, but lacked the essential tools of drama (Matilda) and eloquence (Cinderella).
In Part II of this post, I’ll explore two shows which redefined the art of story-telling in vastly different ways including: forwards, backwards and with a little bit of magic to do!
Marquee Politics 