‘Bad Cinderella’ roasted into oblivion as Tony Award nominations hit the musical scene

The Tony Award nominee list hit the musical scene today, and it came as little surprise when the critically-panned Bad Cinderella failed to bag even one nomination for the prestigious award. The musical, penned by longtime Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar) was met with poor reviews from critics. From garish set design to ear-aching musical compositions, even the exceedingly horny nature of the citizens — almost every aspect of the musical was met with critical ire.

Despite the numerous categories on the Tony nominations list, Bad Cinderella didn’t manage to claim a single spot. Despite the hard work of the talented performers, set crew, and the composer himself, even fans found little to cherish in the truly awful musical outside of Carolee Carmello — Cinderella’s evil stepmother.

Most reviewers agreed it was a train wreck with no idea what it was trying to accomplish in the first place. The musical intended to assert an anti-establishment message of individuality that simply failed to come across as anything other than incredibly cringey. Variety accused the musical of pandering shamelessly to its audience members with outrageously thirsty costuming, specifically targeting its gay audience members with “a gay-us ex machina moment contrived for maximum squeal effect.”

The New York Times called the musical, “A Cinderella for streetwalkers and gym rats.” Yikes!

Despite it being universally panned by critics, plenty of fans took to Twitter to decry the decision to snub the artistic-looking musical, claiming that there were plenty of areas outside of the music, story, and costuming to be celebrated.

The ambience is certainly there, but with other entrants like & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, and A Doll’s House, all of which managed to hit more than one note, its no wonder Bad Cinderella was left off the list. It may be your last chance to see this interesting stepping stone in musical history, before it’s removed from Broadway and swept under the rug for good.