The Distancer: Friday, February 12, 2021
DAY 337: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Happy Lunar New Year! May the Year of the Ox be a most favorable one for you.
In case you want to plan a Valentine’s Day with the movies, the streaming platform Mubi is free all day on Sunday 2/14! This site is full of all sorts of interesting indie and international cinema, if that’s at all your jam.
Shot (literally): Dr. Fauci said yesterday that he anticipates the U.S. will be “open season” for vaccines by April!
Chaser: NBC put together this nifty vaccine planner. Might be good to share with someone you love who’s close to eligibility — or just hold onto for yourself!
Now, what you came for…
DAY 337: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (available on Disney+)
It’s possible! Yes, Disney+ has finally made the long-unavailable 1997 TV movie version of Cinderella starring Whitney Houston and Brandy available online. I remember excitedly watching this movie when I was five years old or so when Disney broadcast it on ABC one Saturday night and have fond recollections of being rapt by its magical spell. (Over the past few years, I have thought about it quite a bit thanks to some prime BTS footage of Whiney Houston uncovered by Hunter Harris.)
This Cinderella is pretty much exactly as I remembered it: goofy, fun, charming, theatrical, over-the-top, heartfelt. No one needs me to go through this story, right? You know the folk tale from countless iterations and reimaginations, so it’s really just a matter of how each version builds on the mythology.
Folks … this version has Whoopi Goldberg makin’ whoopi. It has Jason Alexander finding a happy medium between his George Costanza persona and the budding musical theater actor. (Yes, this is very much his background!) It has Brandy in peak budding ‘90s popstar form, so cue all the nostalgia. Most importantly, it has Whitney Houston at her zenith. She’s got the pipes, and she’s got the heart to sell her Fairy Godmother character.
I was struck by how much this Cinderella emphasizes personal agency over destiny or magic. The Fairy Godmother spiffs up the heroine, but she reminds Cinderella time and again that what happens next ultimately depends on her actions and personality. It’s an interesting meeting point between the growing emphasis on self-worth in parenting young millennials in the ‘90s and the mounting feminist backlash to Disney fairy tales. (The race-blind casting also feels very of its moment, too.) This is no one’s idea of a revolutionary twist on the story, to be clear, but it’s still a joy to rediscover once again.
P.S. — If you want some more Cinderella goodness, Vulture had a fun interview with Brandy this week!
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall