In My Own Little Corner

Taking a departure from Star Trek (I still have until May!), I decided to watch the 1957 live television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring the wonderful Julie Andrews. Apparently, CBS wanted to televise a musical for audiences at home to see. Since Rodgers and Hammerstein were, as Andrews says in her introduction, "synonymous with Broadway," CBS enlisted the illustrious duo to write/compose a new version of Cinderella. At the time, Andrews was the sweetheart of Broadway, as she had been playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She was a shoe-in for the role of Cinderella.

Cinderella's story is simple. A young woman relegated to servitude by her step-family after the death of her father is visited by her fairy godmother. With magic to dress and transport her, Cinderella goes to the royal ball, where the prince falls in love with her, and she with him. Required by the magic to leave by midnight, she disappears into the night, leaving behind a single glass slipper. The prince tries the shoe on every girl in the kingdom until he finds Cinderella. They marry and live happily ever after. As for the step-family, different versions treat them different ways. This particular version is kind to them, allowing the now simpering fools to attend Cinderella at her wedding, and presumably attain tenuous royal favor for their connection to her.

A note first on Julie Andrews. I have loved Julie Andrews for my entire life. While most people know her from her roles in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, or, much more recently The Princess Diaries I and II (which were actually quite sweet - I'll review them one of these days), I also love her for her less innocent and motherly roles, such as in The Americanization of Emily and Victor/Victoria. Although Cinderella is firmly within the first vein of movies I mentioned (minus the motherly), I wanted to establish that I admire Andrews for her breadth of acting, not just for her sweet roles.

I am familiar with this score and version-of-story because of the 1997 Disney production of the same musical starring Brandy in the title role, so I can't help but compare the two. The 1957 version was sweeter and more innocent, but far less polished, and the side characters (even when playing the exact same scenes) were more one-dimensional than the 1997 version. Andrews outsang Brandy (through no fault of Brandy's!) completely, yet both managed to maintain a sparkle of wonder in their eye, and fill their character with character.

Overall, I was pleased with this version, but Andrews is who makes the production. It was not the fancy production I was hoping for, but it was quite impressive, given their circumstances. Worth a view; I'm not sure if it's worth owning.