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Lucy McDonald

Familiar fairy tale features modern twists in Australian production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Cast of the Australian production of Cinderella on stage (Supplied)

Cartoons, live actions, musicals and operas — the tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. 

A simple search on the film and TV database IMDb yields hundreds of results. So, why do producers and audiences keep coming back to the all too familiar fairy tale?

It's a Tale as old as time

The exact origins of the rags to riches storyline are a little ambiguous. Some themes are thought to date back to ancient Greece but one of the most popular early versions was Charles Perrault's 1697 tale.

Since then, it's been re-imagined dozens of times.

The Brothers Grimm took a slightly darker approach in 1812.

The story debuted in feature film form in Walt Disney's 1950 animation, Cinderella.

Hilary Duff's 2004 modern-day take A Cinderella Story saw the heroine leave a mobile phone at a high school dance, not a glass slipper.

Lily James's 2015 live-action Cinderella was a nod to the classic. Just six years later, it was followed by singer Camila Cabello's jukebox musical iteration.

The latest film re-imagining, in case fans needed another, hit the Disney Plus streaming service earlier this month.

Sneakerella features a male lead as well as the stepsisters and stepmother traded in for male versions of the characters.

The tween-targetted tale received mixed reviews online.

Tony Award-winning musical opens in Melbourne

Shubshri Kandiah on stage in Cinderella (Supplied)

Acclaimed composers Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical rendition officially opens in Melbourne on Thursday night, with a few of its own modern-day twists.

"The version I remember as a child was the animated film. This version is a little different to that" said the actor playing Ella, Shubshri Kandiah.

"She's no longer this kind of damsel in distress that we are used to seeing in our typical princesses, but she is a woman who is very much in charge of her own destiny.

"She shows a lot of insecurity and is very relatable at the start, but where she ends up, as a strong woman who knows that she is enough just as she is, it's really beautiful," Kandiah said.

'Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella' classic fairytale with modern twist tours Australia

The first woman of South Asian heritage to play the title role

Shubshri Kandiah rehearsing for Cinderella (Supplied)

"It's so nice to get messages on Instagram from people of South Asian heritage saying it's so exciting to see you in this role," she said.

"A lot of people have experienced not seeing themselves on screen or on stage, so it's nice that that's finally coming up."

"Shrubshri is opening up the world to this beautiful myth that we've heard so many times, and she's making it her own," said Josh Rhodes, the original Broadway choreographer.

When asked why the story stands the test of time, Rhodes said: "We always want to believe that we can always pull ourselves up, I think we all have been in dark places."

Shubshri Kandiah and Silvie Paladino rehearse for Cinderella (Supplied)

"We're trying to bring everything that you want Cinderella to be, the glass slipper, the staircase, the dress, the magic, all of that entire tale, but we're trying to infuse it with a modern push for independence," said Mr Rhodes.

"Everyone needs to be a fairy godmother to someone … it's our job to push kindness into the world and I think that story will go on forever."

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