West End Wednesday: SOHO CINDERS
Soho Cinders is a 2011 musical by George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and Elliot Davis, based on the fairy tale of ‘Cinderella’. The show is relocated to modern day Soho and tells the story of Robbie, an orphaned boy who lives with his two stepsisters in the laundrette they run. Robbie makes his living as a rent boy, but when falling for one of his clients means he gets embroiled in a political scandal and faces losing the laundrette, what’s a boy to do?
Development started with Soho Cinders as early as the start of the noughties, however the writing pair had been busy with a slew of other musicals as well. Once Mary Poppins was starting to get up and running, the pair were able to start workshopping their take on the ‘Cinderella’ story. In July 2008, the pair exclusively premiered a selection of the songs from Soho Cinders during an anniversary concert to celebrate 25 years of their partnership. The success of the debut encouraged Stiles & Drewe to stage a one-off gala performance in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust in October 2011. This all-star cast included Sharon D. Clarke, Joss Slovick, Amy Lennox, Michael Xavier and David Bedella and was narrated by Sandi Toksvig. The gala was a success and spawned a full production that took place from 3 August-9 September at the Soho Theatre in 2012. The cast included Thomas Milner as Robbie, Michael Xavier as James Prince and Amy Warren as Velcro. This production featured the voice of Stephen Fry as The Narrator. The production was directed by Jonathan Butterell, choreographed by Drew McOnie, designed by Morgan Large, lit by Hugh Vanstone, and the sound was designed by Adam Fisher. The production was revived for a five-week run leading up to Christmas in 2016 at the Union Theatre. This production starred Joshua Lewindon as Robbie, Emily Deamer as Velcro and Lewis Asquith as James Prince. This production was also revived for the 2019 Christmas season at the Charing Cross Theatre. The Charing Cross incarnation starred Luke Bayer as Robbie, with Millie O’Connell as Velcro and Lewis Asquith reprising his role as James Prince from the 2016 production. Asquith starred alongside Michaela Stern, Natalie Harman and Chris Coleman who also reprised their roles from the previous production. The show opened in October and although booking till the end of December, extended a further two weeks to close on 11 January. For the extension, the roles of Robbie and Velcro were taken over by Michael Mather and Livvy Evans respectively. This production was directed by Will Keith, with choreography by Adam Haigh and set design by Justin Williams.
Besties, if you haven’t listened to Soho Cinders yet, please get on it. It is just pure joy!
Cast recording available on streaming services.
FACTS:
Music: George Stiles
Lyrics: Anthony Drewe
Book: Anthony Drewe and Elliot Davis
Theatre: The Soho Theatre
Run: 3 August – 9 September 2012
