Mr. Cinders

Mr. Cinders is a musical produced in the UK in 1928.

Production background

The music is by Vivian Ellis and Richard Myers, and the libretto by Clifford Grey and Greatrex Newman. The story is an inversion of the Cinderella fairy tale with the gender roles reversed. The Prince Charming character has become a modern (1928) young and forceful woman, and Mr. Cinders is a menial. The show captures the last frantic gasps of the roaring twenties before the gloom of the Great Depression settled in.

After a tryout in Blackpool in September 1928 and three-month provincial tour, the musical opened in London at the Adelphi Theatre on 11 February 1929 and moved to the London Hippodrome on 15 July 1929. It ran for 528 performances. It starred Bobby Howes and Binnie Hale, and became a signature piece especially for Howes. The musical had immediate international success in continental Europe and elsewhere. A revival took place at the Streatham Hill Theatre in April 1930, and the show was adapted for film in 1934.