"I was thinking about Laura being 27, " she added of Laura Osnes, the musical's leading lady.

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It doesn't help that Mark Brokaw, the director, seems to have told everyone in the cast but Ms. Osnes to camp it up.

WSJ: 'Cinderella': No Talking, Please

And the show, which will open on Broadway for the first time on Sunday, in a production starring Laura Osnes, has itself been repeatedly transformed from one thing into another and then another still.

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Ms. Osnes, a fine singer and a very good dancer, makes the most of Josh Rhodes's well-wrought choreography and looks great in William Ivey Long's fancy costumes but, then, so does everyone else, especially Victoria Clark and Harriet Harris.

WSJ: 'Cinderella': No Talking, Please

The show itself is a gem, a compact operetta with a radiant score, and virtually every aspect of this production is right on target, starting with Laura Osnes, the star, who looks like she stepped out of a storybook and sings like she stepped out of a dream.

WSJ: 'Cinderella': No Talking, Please