This is a musical update of the Cinderella story from playwright Lynda Radley and composer and indie songwriter Michael John McCarthy – a couple in real-life.
Ella (Hannah Visocchi) is a farmer who’s working hard to wrest back control of her late parents’ farm from scheming stepmother Lenore (Ann Louise Ross) before she can sell it to swaggering property magnate Apollo King (John Macaulay).
A modern twist
King’s plan is to build houses on it, and Ella is too dedicated to her job to see she’s spoiling the land and playing right into his hands.
Meanwhile, King’s timid son Liam (Jatinder Singh Randhawa) wants to help her grow crops but is too meek to scupper his dad’s plan, while Lenore’s children and Ella’s step-siblings, pushy obsessive Instagrammer Florence (Leah Byrne) and gormless fitness influencer Laurence (Adam Greene) are too self-obsessed to see what’s happening.
A show for the next generation
That the play manages to deliver a thoughtful and appropriate environmental message while being a whole lot of fun at the same time is tribute to Radley, McCarthy and director Jemima Levick’s great work.
Ross and Macaulay are an enthusiastic pair of villains, and Emily Winter provides a lovely scene as the spirit of Ella’s late mother Cora, who creates the magic which takes her daughter off to King’s party to meet her crush, Liam.
Yet otherwise, at heart this is a show about a younger generation coming together to take control of their own future, with tender song, fun formation dancing and a sense of the magical coming together around it.
Clever, energetic and thoughtful
As lonely Ella’s favourite boots Leftie and Rightie brought to life, Karen Young and Sebastian Lim-Seet are energetic support, and even King’s mute assistant Stephanie Cremona gets a last word, of sorts.
Fun, energetic, thoughtful and fiercely contemporary, speaking directly to the generation it hopes to represent, it’s a clever piece of theatre wrapped inside a first-rate Christmas show.
Cinderella is at Dundee Rep Theatre until Saturday December 31. www.dundeerep.co.uk
