Theatreguide.London
www.theatreguide.london
The Theatreguide.London Review
In March 2020 the covid-19 epidemic
forced the closure of all British theatres. Some companies adapted
by putting archive recordings of past productions online, others
by streaming new shows. And we take the opportunity to explore
other vintage productions preserved online. Until things return to
normal we review the experience of watching live theatre onscreen.
Cinderella
CBS
1957 and YouTube February 2023
Rodgers and Hammerstein's sole foray into writing for television, this 1957 Cinderella was broadcast once and lived on only in a grainy black-and-white kinescope until a 2004 digital remastering cleaned it up to a remarkably crisp and clean version that now sits in YouTube's vaults.
(There have also been two later broadcast versions, with different casts, and a number of stage productions.)
Take the opportunity to enjoy a little over an hour (90 minutes minus adverts) of Golden Age live television.
Oscar Hammerstein's book deliberately follows the traditional story with little embellishment, leaving room for a dozen songs and two big dance numbers.
The songs may not be absolutely top-rank R&H, with only one – Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful Or Are You Beautiful Because I Love You – having much life apart from the show since then.
And I can't help suspecting that star Julie Andrews, then playing in My Fair Lady in the evenings, might have found this show's In My Own Little Corner, sweet as it is, a pale competitor to Lerner and Loewe's Wouldn't It Be Loverly.
Yes, that Julie Andrews. She is, of course, lovely and her natural warmth and singing are perfect for the role, inviting you into Cinderella's romantic dreams.
Jon Cypher is satisfyingly solid as the Prince, while Edie (here credited as Edith) Adams brings an attractive hint of mischief to the Fairy Godmother.
Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney turn the King and Queen into a suburban couple whose every moment is tinged with warm affection, and Ilka Chase wisely underplays the Stepmother.
Only Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley were directed to take the Stepsisters a bit too far toward Panto-level cartoons.
While enjoying the music, romance and general warmth, also allow yourself to appreciate the skill and inventiveness of director Ralph Nelson in what was live television.
Knowing that the typical viewer would be watching on a screen not very much larger than a modern telephone, Nelson uses lots of close-ups. A couple of the songs are built on single sentence or single word interjections by individual chorus members, and the rapid cross-cutting is both impeccable and witty.
And watch for the moment when the smallest of camera movements off her allows Julie Andrews an instant and seemingly magical costume change.
It is always fun to be caught up in a romantic fairy tale like this Cinderella, but if you can also marvel at the craftsmen and -women at work, it is a double pleasure.
Gerald Berkowitz
|
Receive
alerts
when we post new reviews
|