Reinventing Classics in a Post-Disney World

It’s fashionable to be a purist, a pedant, a traditionalist. To insist that kids learn the exact same stories the previous generation learned, spout authoritatively about how everything following Classic Film X was derivative and subpar. In musical theatre, “revival” does not always mean reinvention; books are stuck to, and orchestrations faithfully copied in most cases unless there is something frankly racist or inappropriate by today’s standards that needs to be changed.

Douglas Carter Beane’s book for “Cinderella”, a 1957 made-for-TV musical with music by Richard Rodgers and original book by Oscar Hammerstein, offers a tantalizing look into another way of thinking. What if we took sacred parts of a fairy tale or fable, and updated them to teach new lessons while still preserving the magic and familiarity of the original? Beane’s version, which hit the stage in 2013 for the first time, is up at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre, and proves to be a wholesome yet gently provocative and satisfying experience that certainly is not just for kids.

Watching the production, one’s hit early on with a number of dashed stereotypes that drive Disney’s “Cinderella” out the window. Ella (Katelyn Coon ) has friends other than mice, she’s not a size 000, and she exhibits agency at the most crucial part of Cinderella’s story. Prince Topher (Eadric…