page_title: Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical)
section_title: 1965 version
hierarchical_section_title: Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein musical) / Television productions / 1965 version
caption_attribution_description: English: A promotional photo for the 1969 CBS broadcasting of the 1965 Cinderella musical, starring Stuart Damon as the Prince and Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella.
context_page_description: 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, 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 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.
context_section_description: 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 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. 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.
  The 1965 version was directed by Charles S. Dubin with choreography by Eugene Loring and recorded on videotape (at CBS Television City in Hollywood) for later broadcast. The cast featured Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon as the Queen and King; Celeste Holm as the Fairy Godmother; Jo Van Fleet as the Stepmother, with Pat Carroll and Barbara Ruick as her daughters Prunella and Esmerelda; and Stuart Damon as the Prince. Lesley Ann Warren, at age 18, played the title role. The film also features rare on camera appearances by dubbers Betty Noyes and Bill Lee, who play a couple that briefly sing about their daughter (played by Trudi Ames). The first broadcast was on February 22, 1965, and it was rebroadcast eight times through February 1974. The 1965 debut had a Nielsen rating of 42.3, making it the highest-rated non-sports special on CBS from the beginning of the Nielsen ratings until 2009, and the 50th highest-rated show of any kind during that period.
caption: Stuart Damon, as the Prince, and Lesley Ann Warren, as Cinderella.
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