The Cinderella 1997 Reunion Wasn't What I Expected
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
When I learned that 20/20 was having a reunion of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella from 1997 to celebrate World Princess Week, I was expecting a journalist like Barbara Walters to show up in a big room with the cast and lead a discussion about their memories of shooting together and what they've been up to since then. What I got instead was a mash-up of individual interviews from various people involved with the film from the past and present day talking for an hour about what a great movie it was. Don't get me wrong; it was great, but that isn't what comes to mind when I hear "reunion." Not only was there never more than one person on camera at a time, but there was also no host to introduce and close out the special. If someone tuned in without knowing anything about it, they would have no idea what they were watching. The biggest highlight for me wasn't even part of the special. It was a clip of Brandy giving a live performance of "Starting Now" in Disneyland during a commercial break as a promotion for World Princess Week. You can watch the full video below.
Maybe I'm being a little too harsh. There was some decent footage in the special, particularly for people who didn't own the DVD, such as clips of the making of the film and some early interviews with the late Whitney Houston. The motherly relationship between Whitney and Brandy was a big highlight of the behind-the-scenes footage both on the DVD and during the special. Brandy idolized Whitney, and being able to work with her was a dream come true. There was a touching moment near the beginning in which Brandy talked about how she never thought she was pretty and was amazed when she got cast as Cinderella. She also revealed that the shots of her feet in the glass slippers weren't really her feet because they looked too big on camera. It isn't easy being Cinderella! The only two people interviewed who weren't part of the film were Billy Piper, who acted as a stand-in for Whitney Houston since he played the Fairy Godmother in another recent Cinderella film, and Todrick Hall, who provided limited footage from the music video he created to honor the movie last year.
Another highlight was footage of what appeared to be some sort of exclusive Disney Princess party with a group of little girls playing dress up in various princess costumes and answering questions about their favorite Disney Princesses. If they had answered more in-depth questions, this section could have easily been a full special on its own to provide a deeper investigation of how princess culture affects society. As it was, it served as break between the monotony of all the one-on-one interviews for the "reunion." I would have loved to see Brandy inspire the little girls with a surprise visit, but this was a very socially distanced special. Even in the wake of Covid, there were numerous reunions of TV shows and movies that took place over Zoom, so I don't see any reason that the producers couldn't get at least some of the actors together for a discussion, virtual or otherwise. Instead, it acted as an hour-long commercial for Disney's Ultimate Princess Celebration, which was odd because I thought 20/20 was a news show.
Another thing I expected from this special was some sort of memorial for Whitney Houston. There was plenty of dialogue about how great she was, which is true, but no one mentioned how they were affected by her tragic death in 2012. I also learned through the Twitter hashtags that Natalie Deselle Reid, who played Cinderella's stepsister Minerva, had also passed away two years ago, something that was not mentioned in the special at all. Maybe they thought these things would be too depressing for a peppy reunion that would re-introduce the film to a new generation. Still, I thought reunions were supposed to be about celebrating everyone who worked on the project and paying tribute to those who couldn't be there.
In case you were wondering, I did stick around for the live presentation of the movie even though I already have it on both DVD and Disney+. I've been so spoiled by streaming that I forgot how many commercials live TV had! There was a lengthy commercial break after almost every song, which I sang along with loudly, pleased that I still remembered most of the lyrics. Seeing the movie with fresh eyes reminded me of how magical it was the first time I saw it and how solid the story, pacing, choreography, set, and costume designs were. It was clear that a lot of love went into it, and I'm glad everyone involved had an opportunity to reminisce about it 25 years later. Let me know in the comments if this reunion special lived up to your expectations or if you were hoping for something different.
Happy New Year, princess fans! When a new year begins, many of us think about things we can do better than the year before. There is no company this notion applies to better than Disney, which has been failing in every direction now more so than ever. Their latest feature, Wish , was a genuinely solid movie that sadly did not make the profits it deserved. Following its theatrical run, many fans noticed that the concepts presented in the official Art of Wish book would have elevated it from a good movie to a great one. Most of these concepts revolved around love and romance , which has been strategically removed from modern Disney Princess archetypes , despite being a staple of the brand prior to the past decade. Despite some early rumors that Asha might be the daughter of King Magnifico and Queen Amaya, the film's director Chris Buck explained in an interview why he was adamantly against making her a princess, which may have been another mistake that could have altered the m
Update: I just received confirmation from Christy Altomare (Wow!) that she will be attending the fall leg of the Disney Princess concert tour and was unable to attend the first few months because she is performing in a new musical at the Paper Mill Playhouse and that Anneliese has always been part of the concert. If you attend this concert in the fall, you will have the good fortunate of seeing her live! It's been ten months since Disney launched the Ultimate Princess Celebration when they announced that they had acquired the Broadway Princess Party and retooled it into Disney Princess - The Concert . After several cast changes and the cancellation of the entire 2021 leg of the tour, I was fortunate enough to attend one of the first successful performances at the Bass Concert Hall . Initially, I was excited to see Anastasia's Christy Altomare , but she was replaced with Disney Channel's Anneliese van der Pol , who played Chelsea Daniels in That's So Raven and Rav
I've been seeing several viral posts recently about historical fashion lately. One was a gallery of women's fashion every year from 1784 to 1970 , and another was a video re-enactment of how women got dressed in the 18th century . These got me thinking about some of my favorite princess fashions. Though princesses are not known to be historically accurate , their fashions drew inspiration from many different places, and history is one of them. If you take a look at the way fashion has evolved over time, you can get an idea of which parts inspired the princess movies and which parts were altered. Something that surprised me in the re-enactment was how many pieces were assembled on a woman to give the appearance of a single dress. Today, most dresses are a single piece, but historically, gowns consisted of a corset bodice and a large skirt with a crinoline underneath. This was something I also noticed about Disney's theme park princesses . Though they look like one dr
Yesterday, the Starz network released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding The White Queen trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King Henry VIII, who was
A year and a half after Hulu's The Princess , a film about a generic fairy tale princess picking up a sword and saving herself, is owned by Hulu, Neflix decided to take on their own version of the trope with Damsel , a film about a general fairy tale princess picking up a sword and...saving herself? Though these two films share similar themes, the primary foe in Damsel is a mythological dragon instead of a greedy conqueror, giving Netflix's take on the overdone plot more of a fantasy feel. However, the sweet taste of magic is as fleeting as the film's promise of happiness to its sacrificial brides. Like The Princess , Damsel is a gritty action flick with little levity. I found The Princess enjoyable enough for what it is, and Damsel , though generic, has its moments as well. The first act is particularly eye-pleasing with breathtaking imagery of castles, gowns, and indulgence in the royal life before the film's visuals and plot plummet into a dark pit. Elodie is a
Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:
Where Infinite Shimmer , the last visual novel in Time Princess , encompasses everything romantic and girly in a seemingly misplaced cyberpunk setting, The Underground City: Stirring Shadows does quite the opposite. Although the dystopian world of The Underground City is so similar to Infinite Shimmer that it could have easily been a spinoff about a different character living a different life, Sera's circumstances are not nearly as appealing as Aurora's. This visual novel takes everything a player would expect from the genre instead of twisting it into a Barbie-like setting . While this is great for fans of dark gritty dystopian worlds, it feels out of place for such a bright girly game as Time Princess that features a fairy who gives the protagonist the power to become anyone. While not appealing to my personal tastes, this novel demonstrates the game's versatility to players who enjoy all types of stories. Underground City players are transformed into Sera, a tragic figur
As soon as I saw the previews for Netflix's new animated series, Unicorn Academy , I couldn't get over how similar it looked to Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders . Teenagers forming magical bonds with unicorns to save the world from evil? Yes, please! With a Jewel Riders graphic novel on the horizon, this is the perfect time to revisit that premise. Unicorn Academy is loosely based on a book series of the same name that got picked up by Netflix and recently aired its first season. The premiere movie and successive eight episodes follow six unicorns and their riders on their quest to protect the magical realm from the evil Ravenzella, who performed reprehensible acts to previous generations, including the father of the main character, Sophia. The show contains a lot of teen angst and drama as well as rainbows, sparkles, and magic. Although Unicorn Academy features an entire school full of unicorn riders training to be protectors, it only focuses on the six students liv
I was late to the party with my review of Super Princess Peach , so I decided to be more timely with her latest installment, Princess Peach™: Showtime! for the Nintendo Switch that launched last Friday. The game is a mix between the dress-up elements of Time Princess and the gameplay elements of Disney Princess Enchanted Journey / My Fairytale Adventure . Although it provides more of a challenge than the Disney Princess games of the past as one might expect of a Super Mario Bros. title, it can easily be completed in a full day, which makes the steep price tag questionable. Still, Princess Peach's newest title is visually pleasing, entertaining, and fun to play. The game begins with Princess Peach entering a large theater run by the Sparklas, generic muppet-like creatures that populate the Showtime! worlds. As soon as she arrives, a magic tornado blasts her tiara off her head. A talking star named Stella appears and replaces it with a magic hair ribbon that allows her to transfo
Today is International Mermaid Day , and it comes with big news for mermaid fans. I recently shared a leaked promo video for Disney Junior's Ariel that was taken down shortly after. Today, in honor of International Mermaid Day, an official teaser was launched containing only footage from the show without any of the interviews from its creators. There was also an update from Rainbow SpA 's upcoming animated series, Mermaid Magic , which is scheduled to release around the same time period as Ariel. Finally, my friend Kae-Leah Williamson's Wattpad book, The Siren Queen , was recently completed along with a lovely romantic prequel set in a fictional mer-universe called The Servant Girl and the Sea Prince . Though it does not have a specific release date yet, the first official teaser for Disney Junior's Ariel took the internet by storm today. It is reported to premiere sometime this summer on Disney Junior and Disney+. The teaser featured new footage of characters that
Comments