Cinderella - The Show

Cinderella was created by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1957 as a CBS television film. Rodgers and Hammerstein were by this time very famous for Broadway hits such as Oklahoma! and, following a very successful marketing campaign, the broadcast of their first television musical at 8pm on March 31st 1957 achieved a TV viewing figure of 107 million people across the United States.

This was, no doubt, much helped by having Julie Andrews in the title role, shortly after her success as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in 1956. In contrast, Prince Charming was played by newcomer Jon Cypher, who later starred as Chief of Police Fletcher Daniels in Hill Street Blues. Unfortunately, as the broadcast was live, Cypher was recorded tripping on the stairway in the ball scene, as well as jumping ahead of the orchestra twice in his song "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?"

Cinderella was not produced on Broadway, but was reorchestrated and expanded in the English pantomime style at the London Coliseum in 1958, with a cast headed by Tommy Steele. It also featured Kenneth Williams as one of the Stepsisters - in this version the Stepsisters were performed in traditional pantomime drag. This version was lengthened by the addition of various extra songs, including three from Rodgers and Hammerstein's less known musical Me And Juliet, as well as one song by Tommy Steele himself, needed because the TV film only lasted 90 minutes.

Ginger Rogers played the Queen in a 1965 television revival, but it was not until 1993 that Cinderella finally made it to a major stage in America, performed by the New York City Opera. This was followed in 1997 by another television version with Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother. Songs were also added to this version, including 'Falling in Love with Love' from Rodgers and Hart's The Boys From Syracuse.

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