Were Seattle Critics Enchanted by the B'way-Bound Princesses?

Princesses, the Broadway-bound musical starring Brent Barrett and Jenny Fellner, has a show-within-a-show premise that centers on private school girls putting on a production of A Little Princess with help from one girl's action star father. It features direction and lyrics by David Zippel who also conceived the show, a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, music by Matthew Wilder and choreography by Rob Ashford. The musical is supposed to come to the Great White Way later this season. But before it sets Gotham plans, Princesses is trying out at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, where it opened on August 17. Did critics think the show is enchanting?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Lynn Jacobson of Variety: "It would not be a Sisyphean task to get this show prepped for Broadway where it's aimed, though no theater has been secured yet, but it's not going to be a walk in the park, either. In its favor: Princesses has a ton of Tony talent behind it. It's produced by Stewart F. Lane Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage Aux Folles and Bonnie Comley. Casting is strong across the board particularly Barrett and Fellner, whose vocal chords you would not want to meet alone in an alley at night. The nifty, Hollywood Squares-like set by Douglas W. Schmidt is simple but effective. And a few of Wilder and Zippel's rock-and-soul musical numbers are real showstoppers… But the energy and fun of these numbers needs to carry through the show from beginning to end. As it is, the momentum is repeatedly hung up by the abrupt changes in tone, the sometimes static choreography, the unflattering costumes Fellner's baggy, layered look is particularly unsuited to her or the occasional odd-man-out perf."

Misha Berson of The Seattle Times: "Though slick, chirpy and exuberantly performed by a largely youthful cast, led by the appealing, power-voiced Jenny Fellner as Miranda, Princesses seems to have emerged from a marketing database. While Hollywood gears much of its film fare toward male adolescents, Broadway is vigorously courting 10- to 14-year-old girls. But Princesses displays neither the dynamic theatricality or emotional tug of the shows it resembles most, on paper, anyway: the current hit Wicked… and The Secret Garden… The glib, underplotted book for Princesses by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner and the hodgepodge score composed by Matthew Wilder, with lyrics by David Zippel, who also directs the piece, strain for 'tween' coolness. And good intentions aside, they sell the imagination and intelligence of their target audience short."