Emerald Fennell and Carrie Hope Fletcher on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella

Virgin Radio

5 Jun 2021, 15:21

Carrie and Emerald joined the Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose five months into their rehearsal period for Andrew Lloyd's production of Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne theatre in London's West End. 

The brand new musical will open at the theatre on the 14th July 2021, starring Carrie, Ivano Turco, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Rebecca Trehearn, Georgina Castle, Laura Baldwin and Gloria Ontiri. And Carrie's known about her part for a while!

"Two years last month, I got the part. I got a call to say 'You'll be playing Cinderella' and I've yet to get on stage" Carrie says, reminiscing over the shelled theatres over the past year as her and Emerald express their excitement to get back into the zone.

"Well I definitely can't take full credit for the concept of Cinderella, sadly - I wish - but yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber,who has written the music and is obviously a famous genius, has always wanted to make a Cinderella and we were talking a few years ago about how to do that because it's such a well-worn story"

"For me, the trouble with it is that is hinges on a girl changing herself to be loved and so the thing for me that was really important was saying 'Okay well how do we do Cinderella in all its deliciousness, with all its romance and joy, but kind of undercut that thing. So this version is about a Cinderella who is a sort of nightmare, sarcastic girl that everyone hates..."

"And it's about that decision. What do you do if you want someone to love you? How far are you willing to change? And that's, I guess, the sort of crux of the show"

Being unable to get to the stage has meant that the cast and crew have been tweaking the production: "The jokes are getting ruder and ruder and the sort of Magic Mike dance sequences are getting longer also. In that respect it's only getting better" Emerald laughs.

Carrie adds: "It feels like I've had a two year rehearsal period, it's actually been quite amazing - unless sometimes the lyrics change and then you've got to unlearn lyrics which is harder than just learning a new song" 

"But it's been so amazing having the whole team... Sometimes when you join a show you never see the lyricist, because they've written songs, or if it's a thirty year old show and they're long gone and you never get to see them, but having David Zippel in the room... he wrote the soundtrack to my childhood!"

"Having him sat in the room listening to you singing the lyrics to the music that Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote who is sat next to him... It's just the most amazing rehearsal process I think I've ever had"

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella premieres on the 14th July 2021 at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Tickets are available at andrewlloydwebberscinderella.com

For more great interviews listen to The Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose, Saturdays AND Sundays from 09:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.