November 2, 1997 – Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella Premieres on The Wonderful World of Disney
“I doubt if he has any idea how a girl should be treated.” “Like a princess, I suppose.” “No! Like a person, with kindness and respect.”
On November 2, 1997, the made-for-television film Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella premiered on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney programming block. This is the third televised production of the musical, with the first in 1957 with Julie Andrews as Cinderella, and in 1965 with Lesley Ann Warren. This production differed from the first two with the inclusion of three other songs: “The Sweetest Sounds” from No Strings (written by Rodgers), “Falling in Love with Love” from The Boys from Syracuse (written by Rodgers and Hart), and “There’s Music in You” from Main Street to Broadway (written by Rodgers and Hammerstein). The film was ranked number 1 in the ratings for the week of its premiere broadcast, with over 60 million viewers. The film would go on to be nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program. The film was directed by Robert Iscove, with Whitney Houston given credit as a producer. It starred Brandy as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, Paolo Montalban as Prince Christopher, Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother, Natalie Desselle-Reid as Minerva, Veanne Cox as Calliope, Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Constantina, Victor Garber as King Maximillian, and Jason Alexander as Lionel.
The story begins in town, with Cinderella following her stepmother and stepsisters with their shopping. She gets distracted by a puppet show about a prince and his princess, and sweet moments between family members and couples that walk about, wishing for a love of her own. A man walks around, just as entranced as Cinderella has been by the tender moments he sees, also longing for his own tender moment with someone special. As she nearly gets run over by a carriage from the palace, he stops to help her, and the two are immediately smitten with each other. He keeps trying to get her attention, but she tries to run away. The two share an awkward moment, as he accidentally offends her, but they realize they share more in common than they realize. She is soon called away by her step-mother, and he tells her he hopes to see her again before he leaves.
After the prince returns to the palace, his servant Lionel begs him to stop running away and attend to his duties
The stranger turns out to be Prince Christopher, who has a habit of escaping the palace in disguise as a regular person to explore his kingdom. His servant Lionel discourages him every time, and doesn’t understand why the prince doesn’t want to be a prince. Christopher goes to see his mother and father, who decide to throw him a ball, although Christopher doesn’t want another ball. They believe it’s time he chose a bride and had an heir. He begs them to let him pick his own bride, and fall in love naturally. He leaves again, and the king and queen continue planning the ball. Lionel and members of the palace head to town to announce that the Prince is giving a ball. The town is all abuzz with the news, and start the preparations.
Cinderella and her family arrive home after hearing the news, and her family starts bullying her again, with the step-mother claiming she has “too big a heart” for keeping Cinderella after her father died, as most people told her she should have thrown her out into the street. Cinderella gathers her courage and asks her step-mother to attend the ball, but her stepmother tells her she can’t go, that she should “know her place.” Dejected, she goes into the kitchen to prepare the things her stepsisters demanded, going off into her own daydreams, where she could be all that she wants to be.
Although Christopher is angry that his mother went ahead and planned the ball behind his back, she refuses to cancel
Back at the palace, Christopher tries once again to get his mother to cancel the ball, but she refuses. Lionel comes up with the perfect solution: if the prince does not find a bride at the ball, he is allowed to fall in love his own way, in his own time. Christopher and his father agree to the plan, but the queen is less certain of the plan. In Cinderella’s house, the stepmother is helping her daughters primp for the ball, much to their pain and dismay, as their mother’s motto is “beauty knows no pain.” She is certain the prince will pick either Minerva or Calliope as his bride. When Cinderella expresses her opinion of a man loving a woman despite her flaws, the stepmother calls her quaint. The stepsisters are captivated by Cinderella’s idea of love, but the stepmother declares that there’s a huge difference between love and marriage.
As they head out to the ball, Cinderella is left behind, upset that she will be unable to attend, although she tries to convince herself otherwise. She makes a wish to go to the ball, and her fairy godmother suddenly appears at her window, although she mocks her for her dreams, saying dreamers are crazy. When Cinderella says that she’s always dreamed someone would take her away, her fairy godmother says that she’ll have to go about it herself, to not rely on her dreams but to take action. Cinderella then makes a wish to go to the ball, but then says it’s impossible. The fairy godmother then tells her impossible things happen every day by those who believe in the impossible, and sets about to make her dream come true, including a beautiful dress. She warns her, however, that the magic only lasts until midnight, and sends her on her way to the ball.
The prince dances with the girls, but is hardly impressed with any of them
At the ball, Christopher is already bored, as he hasn’t met one interesting girl yet. The queen believes that he will meet someone tonight, but the king is not so certain. The stepmother tries to seduce Lionel to get her daughters to dance with the prince, but Lionel rebuffs her advances. Minerva gets a chance, but quickly blows it, as does Calliope. Christopher has Lionel speed up the music so he can get the ball over with as fast as possible. Cinderella soon arrives at the ball, and her fairy godmother gives her reassurance that she can handle this, and that she will have to handle it on her own if she wants her wish to come true. Once she enters the ballroom, the prince stops, smitten on first sight. The two begin to dance, much to the amazement of all attendees, who wonder who she is.
Christopher and Cinderella dance their way out into the courtyard, unaware that they’re being watched by Minerva and Calliope, who want to know why the prince would choose her over them. The stepmother, who thinks that Cinderella looks vaguely familiar, tries to get close to her to discover who she is. When the queen asks Cinderella if they know her mother and father, Cinderella suddenly gets frightened and flees, and asks her fairy godmother to leave. The fairy godmother accuses Cinderella of giving up. Christopher follows her out, and the two continue talking, with Christopher admitting that he never wanted to attend in the first place. He then tells her that he knows she’s the one, and able to be himself for the first time. The two share a kiss before the clock strikes midnight, and she suddenly rushes away. Although he chases after her, he is unable to find her, other than the shoe she left on the steps of the palace.
As she tends to her stepfamily, Cinderella asks them questions about the ball
Cinderella dashes through the empty streets, making it back just in time before her family arrives home from the ball. She asks them for details, including details of a “princess” that danced with the prince. She tells them of her dream of the ball, and the stepmother says that she talks as if she was there. As she continues explaining her “dream,” the stepsisters are smitten with her imagination, and the stepmother suddenly realizes that Cinderella was the mysterious woman at the ball. The stepmother suddenly calls it all nonsense, and calls Cinderella nothing but common, and starts insulting her father. Cinderella heads out into the garden and starts talking to her deceased father. Although she promised him to stay and take care of the family, she realizes she can no longer stay and be abused. Her fairy godmother appears, and tells Cinderella that he should know who she is, if she truly loves him. She reassures her that he fell in love with her, not her dress.
Christopher refuses to give up his search for her, and his mother is concerned, wondering if she is really as wonderful as she seems. He believes that she is the one that he needs, and his father tells him to look for as long as it takes. Christopher, with the help of Lionel, decide to search every inch of the kingdom, and try the glass slipper on every maiden’s foot in the kingdom. When they arrive at Cinderella’s house, Calliope and Minerva both fail the test, and the stepmother locks Cinderella in the kitchen. The stepmother then decides to try the shoe on herself, and the shoe fits, although it is too tight of a fit that cuts off her circulation. The prince then asks if there’s anyone else, and while the family tries to hide Cinderella, Lionel opens the kitchen doors, although no one is inside. Saddened, Christopher leaves. As he steps outside, he sees Cinderella once again, spooked by the horses as she tries to run away. She recognizes his voice from the stranger she met in the market, and he has her try on the shoe. Realizing it fits, the two share a kiss. The film ends with the wedding of Cinderella and Christopher, with the whole town celebrating their union.
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