While Theater Latte Da has been exploring a wide range of works that fall under the musical theater umbrella since 1995, the company’s never presented anything by the 20th century’s most popular and influential makers of musicals, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

Until now. For his first directing gig since taking over as the company’s artistic director last year, Justin Lucero has chosen Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” the lone musical the duo created for television.

But what’s currently on stage at Northeast Minneapolis’ Ritz Theater isn’t exactly what Julie Andrews and company brought to American TVs in 1957. By the time the musical finally made it to Broadway, it was 2013 and several new twists to the tale had been added in a fresh script by Douglas Carter Beane, with some songs added that Rodgers and Hammerstein had left on the cutting room floor when writing other musicals.

That’s the version offered by Lucero and Latte Da, and it features some becoming updates to the story. This is more of a social justice “Cinderella,” in which the abused stepdaughter not only steals the prince’s heart but helps educate him about the pitfalls of economic inequality and eminent domain. She’s aided by a revolutionary friend and the sympathetic stepsister who falls for him, all of them contending with the Machiavellian machinations of a villainous regent.

Cinderella (Nambi Mwassa, right) discusses the prince’s ball with her stepsisters (Isa Condo-Olvera and Hope Nordquist, left) and her stepmother (Sally Wingert, center) in Theater Latte Da’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” playing through Jan. 5 at the Ritz Theater. (Credit: Dan Norman)

Other than that, it’s very much the fairy tale you remember. And there’s much to recommend about what Latte Da does with this adaptation. The comical characterizations are all finely crafted, while the songs are well sold and Kyle Weiler’s choreography gracefully executed. On the whole, it’s quite an entertaining production.

But some things may require adjusting your expectations. If you envision the opulence of a palace or a golden carriage, you may be disappointed by Eli Sherlock’s spartan set, which leaves everything aristocratic to your imagination. It’s an abstract design full of circles (semi- and otherwise) in which nothing looks remotely like furniture, much less a ballroom. Yet Mathew J. Fefebvre’s costumes cut into the spectacle deficit with some fun attire.

And if you associate Rodgers and Hammerstein with lush scores full of strings and heartstring-tugging ballads like “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” you should know that Latte Da’s “Cinderella” employs a band of six instrumentalists that keeps the music as sparse as the set, impressive as keyboardist Wesley Frye is in trying to make up for it.

But it’s a very strong cast that leans into the silliest aspects of Beane’s script. While Nambi Mwassa could lend Cinderella considerably more spirit, Theo Janke-Furman is quite charismatic as a dissatisfied prince in search of meaning. You could say the same of Sally Wingert’s perpetually surly stepmother, deliciously delivering Beane’s satire of the rich, disdainful and miserable.

Seemingly inheriting the worst of her mother’s traits is Hope Nordquist’s Charlotte, who proves a hoot throughout, especially during the showstopping “Stepsister’s Lament.” And Isa Condo-Olvera is quite engaging and lovely of voice as the character who undergoes the show’s greatest transformation, lovestruck stepsister Gabrielle.

It might not be the most magical “Cinderella” you’ll ever experience, but it’s a clever comedy that gives you more than the same old rags-to-riches story.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

Theater Latte Da’s ‘Cinderella’

When: Through Jan. 5
Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. N.E., Mpls.
Tickets: $90-$5, available at 612-339-3003 or latteda.org
Capsule: While spare of set and orchestration, it’s a deftly delivered comedy.

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