Re: Godmother Songs Download
Dagmar Culloton
The Times classical music critic Hilary Finch co-presents with her god-daughter Tamasin a feature that tests Hilary's 'innocent ear' with Tamasin's pop music collection. It was Hilary Finch in Rhapsody in Bohemia who memorably said, "frankly, I was underwhelmed", on first hearing Queen's pop classic. Here, Tamasin introduces her godmother to Radiohead and The Prodigy, Minnie Ripperton and Michael Jackson and together they examine just what one needs to appreciate the perenially adolescent rebel yell of pop. Contributors include the gifted lyricist Chris Difford, formerly of Squeeze, 16 year-old Wilf Petherbridge, frontman with Charly Brown, and 6 Music host and singer-songwriter, Tom Robinson.First broadcast on 1st June 2007 BBC Radio 4Producer Alan Hall
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, but later played on stage, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre ("Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper"), by Charles Perrault. The story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother and self-centered stepsisters, who dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into a princess and finds her prince.
Cinderella is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written for television. It was originally broadcast live in color on CBS on March 31, 1957, as a vehicle for Julie Andrews, who played the title role. The broadcast was viewed by more than 100 million people. It was subsequently remade for television twice, in 1965 and 1997. The 1965 version starred Lesley Ann Warren and Stuart Damon. The 1997 version starred Brandy Norwood in the title role, with Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother. Both remakes add songs from other Richard Rodgers musicals.
In some productions, additional numbers added include "Loneliness of Evening" (cut from South Pacific and introduced in the 1965 broadcast), a song for the prince; and "Boys and Girls like You and Me" (cut from Oklahoma! and subsequently other shows), for the queen and king (in the Royal Dressing Room Scene), which appears in the show's published vocal score.[6][7][8] The 1997 TV adaptation added "Falling in Love with Love" for the Stepmother,[9] "The Sweetest Sounds" for Cinderella and the Prince, and "There's Music in You" (written for Main Street to Broadway), for the Fairy Godmother.[10] The 2013 Broadway production was performed in two acts and included the songs "Me, Who Am I?" (cut from Me & Juliet), "Loneliness of Evening" and "Now Is the Time" (cut from South Pacific), "The Pursuit", and "There's Music in You".[11]
After the musical's success in London and elsewhere as a stage production, the network decided to produce another television version. The 1957 premiere had been broadcast before color videotape was available, so only one performance could be shown. CBS mounted a new production in 1965, with Richard Rodgers as Executive Producer and written by Joseph Schrank. The new script hewed closer to the traditional tale, although nearly all of the original songs were retained and sung in their original settings. A new sequence opens the story: the Prince stops at Cinderella's house with his retinue for a drink of water after returning from his travels. Cinderella, home alone, and not knowing who the handsome traveler is until a page utters the words "Your Highness", kindly gives the Prince water from the well. After the Prince leaves, he sings "Loneliness of Evening", which had been composed for South Pacific in 1949 but not used in that musical.[21] Cinderella sings "In My Own Little Corner" before there is any mention of the prince giving a ball. The names of the stepsisters were changed from the original production, and the Royal Dressing Room Scene was omitted.[2]
The 1997 television remake was adapted by Robert L. Freedman and directed by Robert Iscove, with choreography by Rob Marshall. Produced by Whitney Houston and Debra Martin Chase for Walt Disney Television, it aired November 2, 1997. The racially diverse cast included Brandy Norwood as Cinderella, Whitney Houston as Cinderella's fairy godmother, Bernadette Peters as Cinderella's stepmother, Paolo Montalban as the prince, Whoopi Goldberg as the queen, Victor Garber as the king and Jason Alexander as the herald Lionel. Several songs were added, including "Falling in Love with Love" from the musical The Boys from Syracuse, sung by the Stepmother; "The Sweetest Sounds" from the musical No Strings, sung by Cinderella and the Prince; and "There's Music in You", written for the 1953 film Main Street to Broadway, sung as the finale by the Fairy Godmother.[25] Sixty million viewers watched the broadcast.[26]
The musical was first performed on stage at the London Coliseum in 1958 in holiday pantomime adaptation that also used songs from Me & Juliet. Harold Fielding produced this version, which opened on December 18, 1958, and played through the holiday season.[2] Yana (Pamella Guard), played Cinderella, with Tommy Steele, Jimmy Edwards, Kenneth Williams and Betty Marsden.[27]
Douglas Carter Beane wrote a new book for the musical's first Broadway production. In his plot, Cinderella opens Prince Topher's eyes to the injustice in the kingdom. The prince's parents have died, leaving the kingdom in the hands of a villainous minister who has been the prince's mentor and has duped his young charge into approving oppressive legislation.[37] The rebel Jean-Michel, a new character, and stepsister Gabrielle are in love and seek to overthrow the government. The score includes the best-known songs from the original version and four more songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue.[38][39]
A review in The New York Times by Jack Gould characterized the musical as "a pleasant Cinderella that lacked the magic touch." He wrote that the broadcast received an "extraordinary range of reactions; it was either unreservedly enjoyed, rather angrily rejected or generally approved, subject to significant reservations." He praised Andrews as a "beguiling vision" in "lovely color video". But he complained about the book ("What possessed Mr. Hammerstein to turn the stepsisters into distasteful vaudeville clowns?"); about errors in "the most elementary kind of showmanship;" about costume ("couldn't Cinderella have been dressed in a dreamlike ball gown of fantasy rather than a chic, form-fitting number?"); and the staging ("cramped ... excellent depth, but limited width marred the ballroom scene"). He judged the songs "not top-drawer Rodgers and Hammerstein" and "reminiscent and derivative of some of their earlier successes" but praised four of them and said: "In television, where original music is virtually nonexistent, these add up to quite a treat ... some current [Broadway] musicals cannot boast as much melodically."[53]
The 1965 version was broadcast repeatedly. The 1997 production was the number one show of the week, with over 60 million viewers. It became the highest-rated TV musical in a generation. Although it was a hit with audiences, it received mixed reviews. Theater historian John Kenrick called it a "clumsy remake" of the musical but commented that Bernadette Peters' "shtick trying on the glass slipper is hilarious".[54] The New York Times praised the performers (Montalban has "an old-fashioned luxurious voice"; Jason Alexander "provides comic relief"; Goldberg "winningly blends royal dignity with motherly meddling"; Peters "brings vigor and sly comedy") but commented that the musical "was always a pumpkin that never turned into a glittering coach ... the songs are lesser Rodgers and Hammerstein ... it doesn't take that final leap into pure magic. Often charming and sometimes ordinary, this is a cobbled-together Cinderella for the moment, not the ages."[55] Other critics, however, praised the presentation. One reviewer wrote: "Grade: A, a version both timely and timeless."[56] Another agreed: "this version has much to recommend it."[57] An encore broadcast on Valentine's Night 1998 drew another 15,000,000 viewers.[2]
Columbia Records recorded the musical selections from the first telecast of Cinderella on March 18, 1957, nearly two weeks before the show aired, in monaural and stereophonic sound, releasing the mono version in 1957 and then the stereo version in 1958. The stereo version was later reissued on CD by Sony.[2] The black-and-white kinescope recording made during the telecast was broadcast on PBS in December 2004 as part of its Great Performances series. It was later released on DVD with a documentary including most of its original players, as well as a kinescope of Rodgers and Hammerstein's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show the preceding Sunday, featuring Hammerstein reciting one of the songs to orchestral accompaniment.[5]
Unlike the three-act television version, the 2013 Broadway production is performed in two acts with additional songs, including "Me, Who Am I?", "Now Is the Time" (cut from South Pacific), "The Pursuit", "Loneliness of Evening" (cut from South Pacific, and featured in the 1965 broadcast), and "There's Music in You".
A distraught Cinderella runs out to the garden in tears, kneeling on a stone bench. There, she is met by her Fairy Godmother, who has come to help. She transforms Jaq, Gus, and two other mice into four white horses, a pumpkin into a coach, and Cinderella's old horse Major and bloodhound Bruno into a coachman and footman, respectively. The fairy godmother also gives Cinderella a shimmering ball gown and glass slippers, but warns her that all the magic will end on the stroke of midnight.
Around 380 applicants auditioned for the role of Cinderella,[31] until Ilene Woods was cast in March 1948.[5]Mack David and Jerry Livingston had asked Woods to sing on several demo recordings of the songs. They had previously known her from her eponymous radio show, which was broadcast on ABC. The show featured fifteen minutes of music, in which David and Livingston had their music presented.[32] Two days later, Woods received a telephone call from Disney, with whom she immediately scheduled an interview. Woods recalled in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, "We met and talked for a while, and he said, 'How would you like to be Cinderella?'," to which she agreed.[33]
aa06259810