It’s Gospel! ‘Sisterella’ Wears Golden Slipper

Wow. Who spiked the punch at the Pasadena Playhouse?

“Sisterella,� the new gospel-flavored musical updating of “Cinderella� by Larry Hart (book, music, lyrics and a starring role), just about blew the roof off of the place on Sunday night, the show’s official opening.

This is a production whose bounty simply has to be seen--and heard. Funny, clever, rousing songs, tremendous voices, terrific dancers, exhilarating choreography: Yes, Virginia, money can buy a thrilling new musical. The producers, aside from the Playhouse and New York’s Musical Theatre Works, which gave the show a workshop production last year, include Miramax Films, Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions and most notably, Michael Jackson, who did not make an opening night appearance.

The show bowed to him, however, in one number that parodied some distinctive Jackson footwork (the character, an obnoxious lawyer who looked oddly like Randy Newman, also grabbed his crotch). In context, the move was not a throw-away joke but a choreographic coup--when Jackson electrified the country with his televised moonwalk on a 1983 Motown special, he made it clear that the most vital choreography in America was no longer to be found anywhere near the legitimate theater. Now, in ‘Sisterella,� choreographer Raymond G. del Barrio brings MTV to the stage in the wittiest and most exciting hybrid of the two forms I have ever seen. In number after funky number, he expertly manipulates a large cast of dancers to make the stage explode with movement from every corner. He loves detail and provides so much of it so fast that you’ll leave the theater feeling you have to see the show again.

The cultural jokes come fast and furious in “Sisterella,� a fairy tale update that takes all kinds of liberties, all of them delightful. References range from “I Dream of Jeannie� and “The Wizard of Oz� to ‘Gypsy,� “My Fair Lady,� C&C; Music Factory, Jean Paul Gaultier, “Coming to America,� W.E.B. DuBois, the Supremes and one absolutely hysterical extended reference to the Village People. I’m sure there were at least a dozen more I didn’t even catch.

In Larry Hart’s adaptation, Cinderella is sister Ella, played by Della Miles. Hart has given her the wicked stepmother to end all wicked stepmothers--as embodied by the amazing Yvette Cason, whose purring perfidy is delicious, whose voice is dynamite and whose confidence is supreme. After excessive keening at her husband’s funeral, she gets home to sing a great, up-tempo, funny victory song: “I Got the Money.� In a typical del Barrio move, servants crawl from the woodwork and start backing her up, big time.

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It’s great to see Cason face off with Miles’ second act Ella, after Ella’s transformation from an ugly duckling into a stunning woman. Miles’ voice is as tremendous as Cason’s, but her songs unfortunately are much less interesting.

Hart can write huge, rousing numbers (‘You Are My Shelter’), he can write spiritual ones (‘Stand Strong’), he can write wickedly funny disco parodies (‘Goin’ to the Party’) and broadly funny country music ones (‘Barbeque My Chicken’), but he cannot write ballads that don’t sound like two dozen other MOR ballads.

Ella, the sincere character, gets most of the ballads. So does her prince (Jimmie Wilson) who has only one funny moment: his entrance.

During the ballads, with one-size-fits-all generic lyrics, the show looks remarkably like “Star Search.� But this is a show, and a score, designed to showcase voices, and it does so magnificently, even in the boring songs. The singers wear face microphones, and voices are emphasized (a little too loudly) to hide the fact that the music, recorded by a 17-piece orchestra, is digitized, controlled by one musician on a synthesizer. With live musicians playing the score, Larry Hart’s show will hold any stage, anywhere, any time.

Director David Simmons, aided immeasurably by the wit and precision of costume and lighting designers Pasquale Spezzano and Kevin Mahan, brings the show’s many pieces together with endless energy and high spirits. He gets top-notch comic performances out of the wicked stepsisters, one a rotund country-singer wannabe (Wanda L. Houston), the other a long-faced Puerto Rican Valley Girl (Rain Pryor). As Sisterella’s tutu-wearing fairy godfather Babaloo, Ralph Cole Jr. almost steals the show from Yvette Cason. Hart, as the kind-hearted executor of Ella’s father’s estate, can’t act, but he can absolutely sing. His spiritual chin-up song to a despondent Ella (‘Stand Strong’) had the audience climbing out of its seats.

One oddity: the anti-Semitic naming of a sleazy psychiatrist and asylum owner--Fyvush Goniff--seems willingly offensive.

With all the money and talent behind this cartoon musical, it is inevitable and right that “Sisterella� will follow “Beauty and the Beast� to Broadway. In actuality, the show is closer to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s “Little Shop of Horrors,� which began life as a small off-Broadway musical and made its presence felt through its indomitable attitude (and also a little help from David Geffen’s money). “Sisterella� may have more money than three wicked stepmothers combined, but it’s got something no one can buy. This show is wicked fun.

* “Sisterella,� Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 5 and 9 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 7 p.m. Ends April 21. $13.50-$35.50. (818) 356-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Jody Keith Barrie: Dr. Goniff

Yvette Cason: Dahlia

Ralph Cole Jr.: Babaloo

Larry Hart: Indursky

Wanda L. Houston: Magnolia

Della Miles: Ella

Toni Morrell: Queen Marie

Rain Pryor: Chrysanthemum

Amy Keys: Queen Rolanda

Christopher R. Kirby: King Jean-Claude

Jim Ryan: Monty Grubman

Jimmie Wilson: Prince Jean-Luc

Ron Kellum: Reporter, Newsie

With: Francisco Avina, Luis Camacho, Sandor De Grazia, Rafael Garcia, Gregory McKinnon, Chuck Rosen, Tania Michelle Ante’, Donielle Artese, Jasmine Baird, Eric L. Ellis, Leslie Geldbach, Marisa Gilliam, Jennifer Keyes, Jahnna Kimp, Bonnie Lynn, Kamilah Martin, Destan Owens, Thomas Porras, Robbin Tasha-Ford.

A production of the Pasadena Playhouse and Musical Theatre Works with Miramax Films in association with Tribeca Productions and Michael Jackson. Book, music and lyrics by Larry Hart. Directed by David Simmons. Musical staging and choreography by Raymond G. del Barrio. Musical director Matthew Sklar. Production consultant Sheldon Epps. Sets Gary Wissmann. Lights Kevin Mahan. Costumes Pasquale Spezzano. Sound Robert Ludwig. Hair, wig and makeup design Judi Lewin. String arrangements Paul Badia. Production stage manager Kathleen Horton.