Was ‘Bad Cinderella’ Really That Bad? Emerald Fennell Messed With A Classic Way Before “Wuthering Heights”
Deserved or not, the backlash to Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has unearthed/resurfaced the controversial auteur’s darkest secret: she wrote the book to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamous musical Bad Cinderella. It’s irresponsible to fully attribute that musical’s reputation to Fennell, but it’s always a good time to talk about that show and, like, what happened there.
In musical theatre-ese, “book” means script. Fennell didn’t compose or direct this thing. Seriously, don’t put that on her! Back in 2018, before Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, she collaborated with Webber and co-writer Tom McRae on this basically original story. The show became a meme years later, when the musical transferred from the West End–which ALW admitted was a “costly mistake”–to New York City.
You’ve probably seen the viral clip where, the show’s Broadway star Linedy Genao stood in front of a microphone and an indeterminate number of people, declared “I’m not your Cinderella… I’m your Bad Cinderella,” and then proceeded to spray paint “BAD” over the show’s poster. Ooooh, edgy!
Bad Cinderella‘s “Pick-me” Reading Didn’t End There
The basic premise of Bad Cinderella is that the famous rags-to-riches girlypop is the only goth in a kingdom of shopaholic cheerleaders. She’s got a friends-to-lovers thing going on with the nerdy prince Sebastian, a second son whose older brother fled the kingdom because he’s very, offensively, obviously gay. The fairy Godmother is a plastic surgeon. There’s potential for some kind of John Hughes-y or even Descendents-y goodness there, but they missed every shot.
I, a brave theatergoer, saw Bad Cinderella on Broadway in 2022. Yes, it was terrible. Many of my peers enjoyed it ironically, as a camp delight best enjoyed tipsy… but not me. Bad and boring! It didn’t hurt that there was an equally side-eyed, fractured fairy tale musical with Cinderella as the main character and an in-your-face Second Wave feminist message on Broadway at the time time called Once Upon A One More Time. (Once Broadway catches up to the 90s, feminist-theory wise… it’s over.) But the latter, a Britney Spears jukebox musical, was both funny and entertaining. This one felt like a chore rather than a ball.
The Stepmother (Carolee Carmello) in Bad Cinderella did vape, though. That was pretty good. I enjoyed that. On the other hand, she and the Queen (Grace McLean) spend a whole song slut-shaming each other. Not great. Plus, the title song sounds exactly like a slowed-down version of “In My Own Little Corner” from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella, a certified banger. So what are we even doing here?
What made Bad Cinderella bad was not *all* Fennell’s fault
Like I said above, Fennell had just one role on this thing. Let’s give her that. She didn’t write (pre-Broadway) lyrics like “Call me bad Cinderella/ I take pride when you sneer/ I am proud that I’m not like you/ Ironclad Cinderella/ I face life with no fear/ And a more than sky high IQ.” She’s not responsible for “yes, I’ll brighten this tragic scene up/ when it’s love you don’t need a pre-nup/ I’m a man’s man, man.” Thank lyricist David Zippel for that. She didn’t decide to costume “Goth” Cinderella like Janis Ian from Mean Girls meets Paulette from Legally Blonde. The NYC announcement wasn’t her call, either.
Plus, when the production transferred to Broadway, and changed the title from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella to Bad Cinderella, the book went under revisions by American playwright Alexis Scheer. (In my humble opinion, you should always anticipate negative reviews when choosing a title. Don’t leave the door that wide open for wordplay like, for example, “Bad Cinderella is exactly that” and “Smash is a flop” …y’know?) If I can’t guarantee that Fennell is responsible for the so-called quips I experienced like “it’s giving rags, it’s giving peasant” who am I to blame her?
Still, it is funny to see people talk about a fever dream I had three years years ago. And I love that Fennell’s history of girlbossing too close to the sun–and I say this as someone who likes and is willing to defend her films–has a dark musical theatre origin story. How fun, unlike this musical!
(featured image: Getty Images)
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