Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical was written for a live broadcast on American TV in 1957. And it shows, despite the best efforts of director Timothy Sheader to give it some style and substance. It is an enjoyable 90 minutes, but gossamer thin, no more than a series of pleasant songs strung together by a thin script that tells the story efficiently but with no richness and certainly no subtext. It takes you to the ball, but you don't have the ball you would if the show had been prepared to mine the fairy tale more deeply.
What saves it from being merely indifferent is Sheader and his designer Laura Hopkins' vision of fairy-tale land as a classic Powell and Pressburger film. This Cinders' slippers are ruby red. The kitchen of the stepmother's house is fitted out with flying ducks and Bakelite. Cinderella's stylish godmother is a bit of a scarlet woman and definitely had a very good war.
These touches help give the evening style, wit and an emotional current that is otherwise lacking. There are also some good characterisations of the Prince's mum and dad. The former is the kind of queen who clearly would have enjoyed a night in with Kirsty's Home Videos if only the TV had been freely available.
But Cinderella and her Prince are the traditional drips, and the roles of the wicked stepmother and her ugly daughters so underwritten that Cinderella's plight never really touches your heart. The cast sing well, but this is not the kind of transforming experience that will stay in the memory for long.
· Until January 24. Box office: 0117-987 7877.
