Deserved or not, the backlash to Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has unearthed/resurfaced the controversial auteur’s darkest secret: she wrote the book to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamous musical Bad Cinderella. It’s irresponsible to fully attribute that musical’s reputation to Fennell, but it’s always a good time to talk about that show and, like, what happened there.
In musical theatre-ese, “book” means script. Fennell didn’t compose or direct this thing. Seriously, don’t put that on her! Back in 2018, before Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, she collaborated with Webber and co-writer Tom McRae on this basically original story. The show became a meme years later, when the musical transferred from the West End–which ALW admitted was a “costly mistake”–to New York City.
