![]() ![]() The most illustrative songs - the show-stopping medley of “Circus,” “Sometimes” and a teasing “Oops!… I Did It Again” - come from Guarani, the one-time “American Idol” contestant who chews the scenery as a Lothario with a wildly soulful vocal range. When the mean stepsisters belittle Cinderella for her attempts at a leg up, Soltau and Hillner Larson go into hilarious, hardcore gangster-rap mode for the electro-pulsing “Work Bitch.” When the betrayed princesses find out about the cheating Charming’s unprincely ways, up comes a huffy “Womanizer.” Tackling gender roles and power dynamics never sounded as good as it does in “Once Upon a One More Time,” in which Spears’ songs are diligently retro-fitted to the message without sounding jimmied into place. In the end cooler heads prevail and equity reigns supreme, albeit with a too-neatly wrapped bow around a complex problem. The fairy princesses go on strike, the evil Stepmother gets spiteful with a plan that goes sadly wrong, and the narrator rages, deploying banishment as a weapon of mass destruction. Especially when Cinderella, Snow White and the ladies in waiting discover that their Prince is more cad than charmer: the same one-size-fits-all prince appearing in each of these women’s stories. The cracks in the patriarchy are revealed (Snow White getting kissed without consent, while sleeping, amounts to assault), and “happily ever after” is no longer guaranteed. gifts Cin with a copy of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” all hell breaks loose. Cinderella also becomes more ill at ease in the already-bad bosom of her lousy step-family (Jennifer Simard, Tess Soltau, Amy Hillner Larson) and falls into the arms - and independent mind - of rogue Original Fairy Godmother (Brooke Dillman). Tired of looking pretty on command and doing little else, Cinderella begins pushing against her so-called fabulous routine and her shallow relationship with the callow Prince Charming (Justin Guarini). Depicting misogynistic fairy tales as if they were Hollywood-style vehicles is a nice touch.Īnd while that group of fairy-tale femmes include a dim-witted Snow White (Aisha Jackson), a voiceless Little Mermaid (Lauren Zakrin), a haughty Rapunzel (Gabrielle Beckford) and a meek Sleeping Beauty (Ashley Chiu) - all willing to wait patiently for their man - one heroine is suddenly lonely and unsatisfied: Cinderella (Briga Heelan). ![]() Such fairy tale readings are cleverly presented here as a harried backstage version of the bedtime ritual, with a narrator (a Svengali-like director played by Adam Godley) making certain that each of his conveyor-belt beauties stick to the script. ![]()
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