Most, if not all, of my colleagues did not like “Bad Cinderella.” However, the performance I recently attended was sold out and that often undervalued pundit known as “the audience” could not have been more appreciative of what they experienced on the stage of the Imperial Theatre. It is important for us theatre critics to remember that often unheralded phenomenon affirmed by H. L. Menken that, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” This critic this time stands firmly with the “common people” by affirming that “Bad Cinderella” is very entertaining and quite good! This is yet another one of Theatre Reviews Limited’s “contrarian” reviews.

Bad Cinderella (a spunky and independent Linedy Genao) and her “oldest and bestest friend” Prince Sebastian (a shy and deeply thoughtful Jordan Dobson) are soulmates in Belleville “the most dizzyingly picturesque town in the world.” The townspeople brag that “every single citizen’s a cut and chiseled god,” that “beauty is our duty,” and that “everyone among us has a ripped and rockin’ bod.” They also admit that “we’re quite shallow, we’re obsessed with how we look,” and that “it’s quite OK if you’re dumb here.”

Sebastian’s missing brother Prince Charming (a dashing and mindful Cameron Loyal) was all of what Belleville touted: “his lips could launch a thousand ships; [he had] sparkling teeth and eyes [and] strapping thighs.” Sebastian is “a disappointment.” Sebastian “is not the type on which girls set their sights.” His bestie Cinderella is the unwanted daughter of her stepmother (a zany and cruel Carolee Carmello) who bemoans, “I’m sorry that you’re so unappealing, Cinderella, and that people find you repulsive, but that’s no reason to make all our lives an abject misery.”

With Prince Charming assumed dead, the Queen decides she needs an heir and announces that Prince Sebastian must take a bride and that he must choose her at her lavish Royal Ball before midnight on Saturday and wed her on Sunday. Here “Bad Cinderella” begins to follow the plot of the fairytale “Cinderella” with a few important differences. Sebastian does not want to get married to any of Belleville’s beautiful but shallow women. Bad Cinderella agrees to meet Sebastian at the ball but decides she must be as “beautiful” as the other townswomen to attend and seeks help from the Godmother (Christina Acosta Robinson) Belleville’s “plastic surgeon” who creates the “Beauty Ideal.”

Linedy Genao and Jordan Dobson are the perfect Cinderella and Prince. Jordan Dobson’s vocals are rich and soulful. Linedy Genao embodies the sturm und drang of a dispossessed daughter struggling with identity and attempting to choose between independence and love. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s music soars with expectation. The lyrics and book by David Zippel and Emerald Fennel adequately express the new musical’s themes. Laurence Connor directs with precision and gives the ensemble cast room to explore “Bad Cinderella’s” rich questions about what it means to be loved.

All’s well that ends well here in this retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. The presumed missing Prince Charming returns to “save [his] dear brother, Sebastian, from a loveless marriage.” Bad Cinderella and Prince Sebastian marry. And Prince Charming weds the love of his life the Duc du Violette (Ben Lanham) giving Belleville “two kings.”

If we listen closely to the book and the lyrics, we hear words and phrases like those slung at the dispossessed on social media: “you’re ugly;” no one likes you;” there’s a reason you have no friends;” and “you don’t belong.” “Bad Cinderella” is a touching homage to the dispossessed, the outsider, the misfit, the one seeking acceptance, agency, and unconditional love. Kudos to Andrew Lloyd Weber for tackling these important issues with grace, wit, and style.