'Cinderella': The Show Fits!

Date: October 31, 1997
By David Bianculli

From The New York Daily News
Submitted by: Larry A.


WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY: CINDERELLA. Sunday, 7 p.m., ABC. 3 1/2 Stars

IN 1950, Disney released its animated musical version of "Cinderella," creating a classic that endures and enchants to this day.

Seven years after that, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2d teamed for an entirely different musical version of "Cinderella," written expressly for TV their only such effort for the small screen.

Julie Andrews starred in the title role, and the production, a huge hit in 1957, never was repeated.

Eight years after that, Rodgers approved and presented a second adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein "Cinderella," with Lesley Ann Warren as the poor servant girl who dreams of being the belle of the ball.

It, too, proved very popular, and surfaces now and then in syndication and on The Disney Channel.

In 1978, collaborators at MTM Productions presented a wholly different musical take, setting the tale in Harlem during World War II and featuring an all-black cast, with Charlaine Woodard as "Cindy."

And now, ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney" presents a third version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, adding three new songs, one significant new character (the castle valet, played by Jason Alexander) and boasting a proudly multi-racial cast.

Brandy Norwood, star of UPN's "Moesha," plays Cinderella, with Whitney Houston, one of this special's executive producers, featured prominently, and effectively, as the Fairy Godmother. (When this project was first announced as a CBS special years ago, Houston was signed to play the title role; time flies and things change.)

For Sunday's "Cinderella," the fairy-tale kingdom is populated like a chessboard. There's a black queen married to a white king (Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber); a black sister (Natalie Desselle, recently and only briefly seen in NBC's "Built to Last") with a white sibling (Veanne Cox, so charming as speed-singing Amy in the Roundabout's revival of "Company"); a white stepmother (Bernadette Peters), and even an Asian-American prince (impressive newcomer Paolo Montalban, a New Yorker born in the Philippines).

Co-executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who mounted "Gypsy" for TV with Bette Midler, have done another topnotch job here.

The staging is opulent, Robert Iscove's direction gives the cast lots of freedom (and room to act), and choreographer Rob Marshall makes the most of the crucial ballroom scene.

Best of all, the musical performances from all cast members, not just the leads are sung with style, skill and a welcome sense of fun and wonder.

If this "Cinderella," on the other side of midnight, winds up as the highest-rated "Wonderful World of Disney" presentation to date, it'll be no wonder.

It'll be well-deserved.