Starring Lucy Hale, Freddie Stroma, Missi Pyle, and Megan Park
Directed by Damon Santostefano
Music and Lyrics by various
The Cinderella Story musicals offer an interesting glimpse into the minds of what was popular with teen girls and their parents from 2004 through 2021. Shoe Fits came out around the time Hamilton, Come from Away, and other musicals incorporating modern genres and stories were suddenly making Broadway trendy with teens. Once Upon a Song debuted during the tail end of the craze for Indian culture and music that also produced Cheetah Girls: One World. How does this tie into the story of a girl who almost loses her voice and her identity to a very wicked stepmother? Let's begin with another fantasy musical number, this one in a more typical concert setting, and find out...
The Story: Katie Gibbs (Hale) is forced to slave away for her ditzy stepmother Gail Van Ravensway (Pyle), spoiled stepsister Bev (Park), and annoying little stepbrother Victor (Matthew Lintz). Gail is the principal of Wellesley Academy of the Arts, and she's absolutely delighted when the wealthy owner of Kensington Records, Guy Morgan (Dikran Tulane), enrolls his son Luke (Stroma), in the hopes of turning him into a top music businessman. Luke's more interested in singing than seeking new talent, but his father wants to mold him in his image.
Katie sneaks a CD with her song on it into Guy's briefcase, in the hope of appearing in the upcoming Showcase he wants to produce at the school. Gail, hoping to promote Bev as a major star, lies and says she was the singer and Katie stole it. Bev, however, can't sing a note and is frankly almost as ditzy as her mother, if not nearly as vindictive. She forces Katie to pose as Bev's voice and take care of Victor instead of attending the Bollywood Ball. Gail's so-called "guru" Ravi (Manu Narayan) helps her and her best friend Angela (Jessalyn Wannlin) attend, but Gail catches them. Now Katie has to go along with the deception if she wants the people she loves, including herself, to have a happy ending...but she has a lot of friends in unexpected places who will help give Gail her comeuppance, including Victor and Ravi.
The Song and Dance: After the annoyingly over-the-top and silly stepmother and stepsister in If the Shoe Fits, I really appreciate Gail being played as a slightly nastier piece of work. At least her plot is a lot more interesting than just shoving her daughter in the limelight. We even get a twist in not only a younger stepbrother instead of a second stepsister, but both are just as abused as Katie. They only go along with their mother to gain her approval, but there's no making Gail approve of anyone but herself and her whims. I also appreciate the complicated plot that does a little more with the "modern Cinderella" premise than just winning an audition. There's real stakes here; Katie stands to lose her home and her chance at success if she doesn't go along with Gail.
Favorite Number: We once again open in a dream, this time as a music video for Katie's big song "Run This Town," complete with dancers and skimpy costumes. "Bless Myself" is heard twice, once as the demon Katie gives to guy, and again in the finale when everyone comes together to celebrate Katie finally being heard. (Listen for a bit of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" towards the end here.) The girls come "Knockin'" when they hear Luke and his buddy Mickey O'Malley (Titus Makin Jr.) writing songs of their own.
"Oh Mere Dilruba" is the big Bollywood dance-off between Angela, who has studied dance, and Gail, who doesn't know what the heck she's doing. No prizes for guessing who wins that contest. The second version of "Make You Believe" is supposed to be Katie sing for Bev, complete with backup dancers...but thanks to Luke, Angela, and Victor and his cameras, Katie's brought out into the limelight once and for all.
What I Don't Like: The Cinderella is the problem here. Hale has a decent voice, but she's also bland, boring, and is frankly no more fun to watch than her dim stepsister. Stroma's even worse; he's so dull, you'd never believe he'd rather be writing his own songs than taking business courses. The running gag with Mickey throwing increasingly strange bands at Luke in the hope of them being discovered stops being cute the third time they use it. That complicated plot can get to be a little too much at times. You start to lose track of who's doing what to whom by the end. There's also the fact that Ravi comes off as a silly Indian stereotype; him turning out to be only half-Indian doesn't make it better.
The Big Finale: If the Shoe Fits has the better Cinderella and (mildly) better music, but this one has the more interesting plot and villains. Both would make cute slumber party background noise for 8 to 14-year-old girls and their parents.
Home Media: Same deal as Shoe Fits - on DVD and streaming, the latter free with commercials at Tubi.
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