Despite a few nods for the score, this brand-new musical retelling of everyone's favorite fairytale received a ballroom full of negative reviews this morning, unfortunately leaving no ambiguity about its name. 

One of the most tumultuous shows in recent history, this adaptation's beginnings (and well-documented ending) in London's West End didn't leave much hope for its Broadway bow. But still, it went ahead, even adding the prefix 'Bad' for a reason that surely made sense to someone, promising a re-tooling for the NY crowd. However, it looks as if even a smattering of Great White Way sparkle was not enough to save it from a savaging not seen since Diana premiered last year.

Here are a few choice quotes to take away today

The New York Post sets the scene:

"A wacko storybook dumpster-fire on Broadway...What the 'ella?...
or a musical with the drunken confidence to slap the word "Bad" in front of a classic title, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Bad Cinderella," which opened Thursday night on Broadway, doesn't have much in the way of tude and swagger onstage. Or brain cells...Bad Cinderella would have been better off staying home than going to the ball."

Variety

"To clear up the obvious question, "Bad Cinderella," which opened at the Imperial Theater Thursday night, isn't good. Composed by Webber and with lyrics by David Zippel, it is a muddled and momentum-less retooling of the familiar fairy tale in search of a coherent point of view as if it were a glass-slippered foot."

The New York Times

"Bad Cinderella" is not the clever, high-spirited revamp you might have expected, casting contemporary fairy dust on the classic story of love and slippers. It has none of the grit of the Grimm tale, the sweetness of the Disney movie or the grace (let alone the melodic delight) of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Instead, it's surprisingly vulgar, sexed-up and dumbed-down: a parade of hustling women in bustiers and shirtless pec-rippling hunks."

Have you seen it? Let us know what you thought by leaving a review!