Keke Palmer Cast As Broadway’s First Black Cinderella

via Hollywood Life

Keke Palmer, 20, has just been cast as Broadway’s first black Cinderella with Sherri Shepherd as her wicked stepmother.

20-year-old Keke Palmer is making history all over the place! First, she was the youngest PERSON to ever be granted a talk show in BET’s Just Keke, and it has just been announced that she will play the first black Cinderella on Broadway. Read on for all the details!

Keke Palmer In ‘Cinderella': 20-Year-Old Is First Black Actress To Play The Role On Broadway

Keke will be taking over the role of Cinderella (or “Ella”) from Paige Faure, who took over from Carly Rae Jepsen in June. Keke’s Broadway debut will happen September 9, which is not too far off — we hope she’s deep in rehearsal!

While Keke is the first black Cinderella on Broadway, she’s not the first black Cinderella ever. Let us not forget the 1997 ABC TV movie masterpiece which saw Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother.

Keke Played Akeelah In ‘Akeelah And The Bee’ — She’s No Stranger To High-Pressure, Titular Roles

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Keke is a multitalented young girl and we’re certain that she’s up to the challenge of playing the titular role in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella; she has been in the BUSINESS since she was just 10 years old! For her film debut, she played Queen Latifah‘s niece in Barbershop 2: Back In Business.

Furthermore, Keke released her first studio album, So Uncool, in 2007 at the age of 14, and her most recent mixtape, Keke Palmer, showed a more mature side to the actress/singer.

Not only will Cinderella not be her first time acting and singing, but it also won’t be her first time in a high-pressure, titular role — in 2006, she played Akeelah in the award-winning Akeelah And The Bee. For her portrayal, Keke won the award for Outstanding Actress In A Motion Picture from the NAACP Image Awards — no small feat, considering her COMPETITION was Beyoncein Dreamgirls and former co-star Queen Latifah in Last Holiday.

Sherri Shepherd will be playing Keke’s evil stepmother, and Entertainment Weekly has reported that they’re looking at TV stars to fill the role of the fairy godmother — NeNe Leakes, in particular, is a name being tossed around.

Transitioning From Stage To Film: Some Girl(S)

After reading some of the comments on the blog/forum The Singing Stage about the film Jersey Boy and it’s transition from stage to film, I’m starting my own review series showcasing how some of my favorite plays/musical transitioned well, or not so well,  on film.

First up in the series, the play/film “Some Girl(S)”(not to be confused with the film and tv show Some Girls).  “Some Girl(s)”, written by Neil LaBute, follows the character Guy(renamed Man in the film), a writer  who is on the verge of getting married but before saying “I do”, he decides to revisit and make “amends” with few of the women(some of whom have been the subjects of his writing) across North America whom hearts he has broken years prior. On this journey he encounters 4(5 in the film) from his past.; Sam his high school sweetheart, Tyler his former sex buddy, Lindsay, an older married professor he had an affair with and Bobbi, the one that got away. The film version stars Adam Brody as Man, Jennifer Morrison as Sam, Emily Watson as Lindsay, Mia Maestro as Tyler, Kristen Bell as Bobbi, and Zoe Kazan as Reggie, the younger sister of Man's best friend(and no, it's not a dog) Both of whom does not appear in the stage production. The screenplay was written by Neil LaBute and directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer.

Production.

Kudos goes out to director Daisy von Scherler Mayer for keeping the feel of the play alive, which was not easy. “Some Girl(s) is a very complex play to transition into film. It uses just 4, but very lengthy, scenes to tell the story. The film follows that same motif. Mayer could have easily thrown in some scenes and flashbacks to help tell the story like MOST directors would have done with a play like this*cough* Tyler Perry *cough* For Colored Girls *cough*, but she didn't.  She just let the characters tell the events of the story through dialog. The only area in which the movie, production-wise, fails to live up to the play is the creative way in which the scenes changed. Having maids come in and act as if they are cleaning the hotel room while actually rearranging it to indicate a new hotel/new city is replaced by random cut-scenes of Man in and out of airports.

Guy vs Man

  

There has always been  debate whether the main character was a “toxic bachelor or a misguided romantic? A sensitive seeker or a sadist?” Eric McCormack, of “Will & Grace” fame, portrays Guy as douche-bag who is only meeting his exes to see if he has “missed out” as Bobbi points out in the climax of the play. In the film, lovable Adam Brody plays Man as someone who actually seem genuine. Watching, you feel sympathy for him. You actually root for him. Unlike in the play, when the women begin to turn on him you actually feel sorry for him. You feel as though he is in some form a misguided lover who actually means well when he deserts the women he allegedly loves. Sounds crazy? But who could hate Adam Brody? The only time the viewer turns on him is during his meeting with Reggie, (an alleged (see below) newly written character for the film) a woman that Man “sexually assaulted” when she was just a pre-teen. Other than that, Brody’s Man comes across as too nice. Too nice to be guilty of the things coming out of these women’s mouths.

The Origins of “Reggie”

Zoe Kazan as Reggie

Contrary to popular belief, Reggie is not a new character written for the film. She was actually written for the play but removed. Given the history between Man and Reggie, it makes a bit of sense as to why it was a LaBute's better call to leave her out. The introduction of Reggie sends the story in an entirely different direction. A dark road that did not need to be voyaged, even though the scene is the most powerful of the entire movie.  The quirky, yet exotic Zoe Kazan delivers the strongest performance in the entire film. Her Parker Poser-like scene-stealer skills are superb. She makes your heart quickly go out to Reggie, no matter how much sympathy you have gained for the lovable Adam Brody Man. However, to make this guy a jerk is one thing, but to turn him into a sex-offender is taking it too far.  As others have suggested, it would be better just turn the scene with Man and Reggie into its own One Act play. As you can see via YouTube, a lot of college theatre students are performing the scene between Man and Reggie for assignments and exit-exams.

GRADE:

As A Film Standing on its Own: B-

As An Adaptation: A-

I took some points off for adding Reggie and for casting Emily Watson as Lindsey. Great actress, but she’s unbelievable. Unlike Fran Drescher(who originated the role on the American stage), Watson does not come across as a professional woman that would have an affair on husband with a colleague; a younger one at that.