Bad Cinderella

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Overview

Bad Cinderella is an upcoming Broadway theatrical production by Andrew Lloyd Webber offering a modern take on the story of Cinderella. Between August 2021 and June 2022 the show was previewed numerous times off-Broadway under the titled Cinderella. In October 2022, it was announced that the production would move to Broadway under the name Bad Cinderella, inspiring memes teasing the production's edgy new name and assuming it'll be bad. That same month, a video of the production's lead actress Linedy Genao saying, "I'm not your Cinderella, I'm your bad Cinderella," went viral as a cringe video.

History

Cinderella

On June 24th, 2021, previews of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella began at London's Gillian West Theatre.^[14] The show officially opened on August 18th. It was supposed to open in July, but several cast members got COVID-19 and had to quarantine, delaying the opening. In May, the show closed as Webber decided to bring it to Broadway. Some cast members claimed they were not told the show was closing beforehand, sparking protests.^[11]

On closing night, Webber reportedly did not show up. Instead, he sent a letter that a member of the production read at the end of the show. He was booed when he arrived on stage. In the letter, Webber wrote, "It may have been a costly mistake, but I am proud of what we did" in reference to the show (shown below).^[12]

Bad Cinderella

On October 3rd, 2022, Andrew Lloyd Weber announced that he would bring the theatrical production Cinderella under the new name Bad Cinderella to Broadway on March 23rd, 2023, starring Linedy Genao in the title role. Previews for the show were set to begin on February 17th of that year. The announcement took place outside the Imperial Theater. At the 2:13-minute mark of the announcement, uploaded to YouTube^[1] that day, Genao steps up to the preview poster for Cinderella and spray paints the word "Bad" over top of it, first saying, "I'm not your Cinderella, I'm your bad Cinderella" (shown below, left). On the same day, the title track from the production, "Bad Cinderella," was released on streaming platforms, where Genao sings that she's a "loner, freak and rebel" (shown below, right).^[2]

BAD CINDERELLA;
BAD CINDERELLA IS THE SNARKY NAME THAT THEY CALL ME!
I'M BAD CINDERELLA;
I'M A LONER, I'M A FREAK, A REBEL THAT'S ALL ME!
TAUNT ME AND TEASE ME,
THAT WON'T UPSET ME,
IF YOU THINK I WILL CARE
HAVE YOU MET ME?
CRUEL WORDS YOU UTTER,
EV’RY INSULT THAT YOU MUTTER
MAKES ME STRONG!

The production is a modern retelling of the Cinderella story where Cinderella is "no longer the damsel in distress," featuring things like recast gender relationships, same-sex relationships, explorations of beauty and body shaming and "bawdy language." The announcement was reported on by Broadway World,^[3] the New York Times^[4] and People^[5] that day.

Online Presence

On the day it was announced, October 3rd, 2022, the clip of Genao saying, "I'm not your Cinderella, I'm your bad Cinderella," was reposted to TikTok^[6]^[7] numerous times, with many commenters criticizing it for being "cringe," "embarrassing" and assuming the play would be bad.

Twitter users shared similar criticisms and critical memes about the production in early October 2022. For example, on October 3rd, Twitter^[8] user @_jonathanyoung compared the idea of the musical to a made-up musical from 30 Rock in two tweets, garnering over 4,600 and 1,500 likes, respectively, in three days (shown below).

Jonathan Young @_jonathanyoung - Oct 3 Bad Cinderella is absolutely a made up musical on 30 Rock that Jenna would have starred in 9 1266 Jonathan Young @_jonathanyoung 4,624 "I can't Liz, I'm starting rehearsals for Bad Cinderella on Broadway. It's the story of Cinderella that audiences will love except in this version, she's a Slut!! Jesse Green called it 'upsetting to say the least!' There's tony buzz!!" G

TikTokers also posted critical videos about the production, some using the original sound for "Bad Cinderella" in their videos. On October 4th, TikToker^[9] @thekellyanne_ posted a bad recreation of the clip, garnering over 100,000 views in two days (shown below, left). On October 5th, TikToker^[10] @gabiwhiting posted a video calling it "cringe" and reacted to the comments under it, garnering over 200,000 views in a day (shown below, right). On October 6th, NBC News reporter @KalhanR defended the clip on Twitter,^[13] writing, "at first i hated this but now i accept that this isn’t cringe, it’s high camp and i’m obsessed."