No matter what the medium, a score is more than a collection of individual songs. As Rodgers explained, “Although a few of its songs have become popular, our score for Cinderella is another example of what theatre music is really about. The marriage of music, lyrics and story in Cinderella exemplified their artistic philosophy all elements held together integrally to illuminate the characters. Rodgers wrote in his autobiography Musical Stages, “In writing the story and the songs, Oscar and I felt that it was important to keep everything as traditional as possible, without any ‘modernizing’ or reaching for psychological significance.” When Hammerstein was asked where he found the version of Cinderella story he based his adaptation upon, he answered, “I looked it up in the encyclopedia.” They purposely did not seek to improve a story they felt was dramatically sound, as many writers are prone to do, instead concentrating on bringing the characters to life. Rodgers and Hammerstein approached the story with the honesty and simplicity that characterized all their work. Howard Lindsay and his wife, Dorothy Stickney, were signed for the King and Queen Jon Cypher played the Prince the Stepmother and Stepsisters were made less frightening and more comic by Ilka Chase, Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley rather than the standard old crone, the beautiful Edie Adams played the Godmother. Richard Lewine, a distant cousin of Rodgers and a close friend, was the producer, Ralph Nelson the director. ![]() The CBS production team was quickly assembled. ![]() When her agent approached Rodgers and Hammerstein and suggested that the television audience would welcome a musical version of "Cinderella," it was an irresistible temptation for all.Įverything about the project was right from the start. Julie Andrews was a sparkling new star, having just triumphed in My Fair Lady. ![]() In 1956 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were indisputably the world’s most successful writers of musicals.
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