Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella on Broadway

[Musical Master]

Has anyone seen this version of the musical with the new book by Douglas Carter Beane? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

In recent casting news: Fran Drescher will replace Harriet Harris as The Stepmother and Carly Rae Jepsen will replace Laura Osnes as Cinderella.

[carolinakid]

I confess I haven't seen it but I do have the cast CD and I wasn't impressed. The Julie Andrews version is just so definitive and perfect to me. Even the Lesley Ann Warren version which I used to watch as a child I consider a classic. I don't like the updating of the story or the new songs/lyrics. R&H's 1957 Cinderella was sublime perfection, imo. Having said that, I'd still go to see this new version if I had tickets...

[Musical Master]

I confess I haven't seen it but I do have the cast CD and I wasn't impressed. The Julie Andrews version is just so definitive and perfect to me. Even the Lesley Ann Warren version which I used to watch as a child I consider a classic. I don't like the updating of the story or the new songs/lyrics. R&H's 1957 Cinderella was sublime perfection, imo. Having said that, I'd still go to see this new version if I had tickets...

I agree that Julie Andrews is perfect as Cinderella but I wish the original version was on the same level as South Pacific, The King and I, or even Carousel on the level of character, political symbolisim, and book. The new one is very close but not quite there, but with that said, Beane did a great job of writing the new book that is somewhat modern but very sweet as well, this new book could atleast be comfortable with the stories that Hammerstein wrote for those three musicals I mentioned.

But I very much enjoy the 1957 version on a good amount of levels (I haven't seen the 1965 version with Lesley Ann Warren yet).

[tsom]

I haven't seen it, but I love the CD! The orchestrations are beautiful and I love how some of the songs were revised with the addition of deleted or new lyrics, such as Stepsister's Lament, There's Music In You, and The Prince is Giving a Ball. I think my favorite "new" song is definitely He Was Tall. The tour is coming to my city later in the fall, so hopefully I'll see it then!

[Musical Master]

I haven't seen it, but I love the CD! The orchestrations are beautiful and I love how some of the songs were revised with the addition of deleted or new lyrics, such as Stepsister's Lament, There's Music In You, and The Prince is Giving a Ball. I think my favorite "new" song is definitely He Was Tall. The tour is coming to my city later in the fall, so hopefully I'll see it then!

Oh the irony of who plays the Prince in the new Cinderella.

[tsom]

You mean Santino Fontana?

[carolinakid]

Why? Is he not exactly into princesses?

[Musical Master]

You mean Santino Fontana?

Yes the actor who plays, Prince Hans from Frozen, the biggest scumbag villian ever.

[tsom]

You mean Santino Fontana?

Yes the actor who plays, Prince Hans from Frozen, the biggest scumbag villian ever.

Hahaha well he is cool in Cinderella. He's a great singer too!

[Musical Master]

Yes the actor who plays, Prince Hans from Frozen, the biggest scumbag villian ever.

Hahaha well he is cool in Cinderella. He's a great singer too!

I agree, Santino's very cool and sweet as Prince Topher.

[tsom]

I agree, Santino's very cool and sweet as Prince Topher.

I just love when he sings as Prince Topher. You can hear the vulnerability and earnestness in his voice, especially during "Me, Who Am I?"

[Disney Duster]

I bought super good tickets (up close, not too close, and in the middle on the ground level) to see this with one of my best friends who also likes Cinderella like me, not as much as me, but a good amount.

This production is...mixed in good and bad. The good is some of the jokes and the way the prince and stepmother got more complexity and character added to them. The actors for both of those parts were very good, Santino Fontana giving the prince a good amount of personality and I would have chosen Harriet Harris as the stepmother as Best Supporting Actress over Victoria Clark as the fairy godmother. Laura Osnes sang beautifully but I didn't think she was that good. She is good it's just I didn't get why everyone was saying she was so great and not say the other Cinderellas of the past were good. The costumes are mostly very good, barring things like the awful other girls at the ball's gowns and Cinderella's way too poofy and boring white dress. The special effects and sets were very good, sometimes even very beautiful. But the part of the new book with the new characters Jean-Michel and the evil Sebastian and the state of the kingdom, all that political stuff, just felt forced in and having nothing to do with the real important story which is Cinderella getting a better life and her and the prince falling in love.

I think the best version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is probably the Leslie Ann Warren version. Or the Julie Andrews version. But not this one.

However, this show is still totally worth seeing. It still has magic about it.

[tsom]

I think out of the three R&H Cinderella movies, the Lesley Ann Warren version is my least favorite. It's good in its own right, but I hate how WEAK Cinderella is in that version. All she does is cry and it's so pitiful to watch. I think it was because of this that the Cinderella fairy tale character has a bad reputation because clearly Disney's Cinderella is not weak (or at least not as weak as Lesley Ann Warren's portrayal). Also, I know it was 1965, but the special effects are kind of laughable. I know they could've done better. The musical score and arrangement in that version is good though! I especially liked "A Lovely Night," which was sung as a solo without the stepfamily.

[Disney's Divinity]

Tbh, Leslie Ann Warren gave the best acting performance of the three to me (Brandy being the worst). I do like Julie Andrews and she obviously gave the best singing performance of the three, but she has this way of singing where I feel no emotion at all... She's been better in other roles though. My problem with the Warren adaptation was how ugly/cheap the costumes looked and how weak/awful the singing was.

Overall, the Brandy/Houston version is still my favorite. It can be gaudy, but the only real weak point for me is Brandy. Didn't like her acting or singing.

[Musical Master]

Tbh, Leslie Ann Warren gave the best acting performance of the three to me (Brandy being the worst). I do like Julie Andrews and she obviously gave the best singing performance of the three, but she has this way of singing where I feel no emotion at all... She's been better in other roles though. My problem with the Warren adaptation was how ugly/cheap the costumes looked and how weak/awful the singing was.

Overall, the Brandy/Houston version is still my favorite. It can be gaudy, but the only real weak point for me is Brandy. Didn't like her acting or singing.

I have "seen" the show when Laura Osnes was in it, she was right one to cast because she had the acting and singing skills to pull off the role of Cinderella (what if Laura had the warm singing of Julie and the acting skills of Warren) and I hope that Carly Rae Jepsen does a good job as the replacement.

[carolinakid]

I loathe the Brandy version.....I saw it once and hope to never have to endure it again. I did however think the Prince was cute.

[Disney Duster]

It's true, when I was little, I did dislike how weak and always crying Lesley Ann Warren seemed to be. But what I like is the structure of the that version. A very obviously downtrodden, even sometimes physically beaten girl showing kindness to the prince who's looking for love and who, along with her gracious fairy godmother, saves her from her very evil stepfamily. I really love the last scene where Cinderella tries to try on the slipper and the prince stops her stepfamily's evil outcries. Now today I'm okay with the crying, too, but I struggle with deciding if this one or the Julie Andrews version is better. In terms of costumes, special effects, and art direction, the Brandy one wins, so actually it is my favorite, but I don't think in truth that it's as good as the Lesley Ann Warren version. I don't see why Brandy is so bad, but I guess Lesley is better. I think the worst costumes are in the Julie Andrews one, though. The stepsisters are supposed to have ugly costumes but they were a real sight for sore eyes. Cinderella's ball gown was pretty though. Perhaps the only good costume.

The costumes were finally their best and almost all of them were good in this Laura Osnes version.

[tsom]

I think story-wise and production-wise, the best is the Brandy version. Out of the three, I think Julie Andrews gave the best Cinderella portrayal. I could see why the stepfamily would be jealous of Julie's Cinderella. There is nothing about Brandy's or Lesley's Cinderella that I would be jealous of. My only problem with Julie's Cinderella is that she seemed too comfortable with her state as a servant, but at the same time, she was not as badly treated as the other Cinderellas. The Lesley version wins for score. The background music in various scenes is very beautiful in my opinion.

[Warm Regards]

I'm gonna go PC here, but I personally prefer the Brandy version because of the diversity. Most of the adaptions, including the Broadway version, have a predominantly white cast. Heck, most fairy tale adaptions have European-based actors. It's very refreshing to see a fairy tale film where the various races just are. No one called attention to Brandy's race, or the Prince's race, or how genetically none of the family trees made sense, because it didn't matter story-wise. I would love it if there existed another film just as diverse. I don't dislike the other versions, but the 1997 version is definitely a unique specimen.

That being said, Brandy did seem a little off to me. She has a pretty singing voice, but her direction seemed forced at points. She felt too passive emotionally, not really tormented or sad or angry by her situation. The Prince's parents were also a bit dull to me, although I guess it's because I just don't consider myself a huge fan of Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber. I loved the step sisters and Bernadette Peters as the step mom, though. They clearly had a lot of fun in their roles as the obnoxious step family.

[Disney Duster]

I can't recall much about Julie Andrews' performance. It's Leslie Ann Warren who sticks out to me. And some moments of Brandy. But I only saw the Julie version once, so maybe that's the reason, and I do get how Julie could be the one who most incites jealousy.