Review: This ‘Cinderella’ has more hustle than heart

Classic stories and fairy tales continue to make the content rounds, whether that’s because recognizable titles are easier to sell, or perhaps because these old tales still have some life left in their lessons. However, the new musical “Cinderella,” starring pop sensation Camila Cabello and written and directed by Kay Cannon, tries to have it both ways, pairing contemporary post-feminist tenets and anachronistic slang and pop songs with the ballgowns and social norms of Renaissance-era Europe. It’s a cute idea that’s been pulled off before, notably in the 2001 film “A Knight’s Tale,” starring Heath Ledger. The intent is to avoid a Cinderella whose fate hangs on marriage to a wealthy prince, so instead, they’ve made her a rise-and-grind girlboss hustler whose values clash with those of her evil stepmother Vivian and stepsisters who want to marry for money. In musical theater, the characters put their inner feelings into song, but these characters are mostly singing pop tunes that have been reverse-engineered into the plot, expressing sort of vague platitudes and affirmations like, “Ya Gotta Be,” “Material Girl,” “Let’s Get Loud,” etc.