Musicals On TV - Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957)

CBS, 1957
Starring Julie Andrews, Jon Cypher, Edie Adams, and Ilka Chase
Directed by Ralph Nelson
Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

Live television musicals have existed for as long as the medium has, but they were usually adaptations of Broadway shows. Rodgers and Hammerstein were originally approached by NBC to write the first major original TV musical, but switched the project to CBS when they heard that they'd signed Julie Andrews. The duo were eager to work with her after she became a star in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady and filled the cast with mainly Broadway and TV stars. How does the first of three TV versions of this beloved fairy tales look over 60 years later? Let's head to the town square, just as the town crier is about to make a major announcement, and find out...

The Story: Cinderella (Andrews) is a little drudge who lives with her bossy stepmother (Chase) and her two stepsisters, silly Portia (Kaye Ballard) and gloomy Joy (Alice Ghostley). She'd love to go to the ball, but her family would rather she stayed at home and did her many chores. Meanwhile, Queen Maisie (Dorothy Stuckney) wishes her son the Prince (Cypher) would settle down, but he hasn't found a woman who interests him. Cinderella gets her chance to attend the ball from her fairy godmother (Adams), who turns animals and a pumpkin into a coach and her rags into a ball gown. When she arrives, the prince instantly falls in love with her, and they're together the rest of the evening...but she can only stay until midnight. After she leaves behind a glass slipper, the Prince becomes determined to find the foot that fits that shoe.

The Song and Dance: I can understand why Rodgers and Hammerstein wanted Andrews so badly for this role. Even in the fuzzy black-and-white prints currently available, she glows as the servant who gets the chance to show she's more than a mere cinder girl. Chase, Ghostley, and especially the giggling, snorting Ballard are hilarious as her abusive family, and Adams makes an unusually young and friendly fairy godmother. The costumes and sets are quite lovely and lavish for TV in this time period, especially at the ball.

Favorite Number: Andrews has fun singing "In My Own Little Corner" and acting out the lyrics to the song, from her African safari to being glad to be home. She and Adams turn "Impossible/It's Possible" into an adorable woman-to-woman chat before Adams reveals why she's really there. "Ten Minutes Ago" and the waltz at the ball are lovely, with Cypher and Andrews lovely and romantic in their duet. She, Ghostly, and Ballard are very cute as they recall the splendors of the ball in "A Lovely Night."

What I Don't Like: I suspect the only reason for the expanded role of the King and Queen here is because Stickney and Lindsay were major stage stars at the time, having just come off the long-running Life With Father. Their number "Your Majesties (The Royal Dressing Room Scene)," is cute but unnecessary, and has never been used in any other version.

The biggest problem here has less to do with the cast or music and more with the ravages of time. The prints currently available are of the black-and-white kinescopes (early recordings) of  the technical dress rehearsal. They're watchable, but definitely not the best prints in the world or what many people nowadays are used to seeing in their widescreen, 4K specials.

The Big Finale: No matter how bad the print is, this is still a piece of TV history. It was a massive hit at the time, the biggest in US television history, with over 24 million houses watching, and it's still fun to watch today, especially for fans of Andrews.

Home Media: Currently only on DVD via Image Entertainment.

DVD