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Synopsis

Cinderella, treated as a serving girl by her Stepmother since her father’s death, sits by herself in a drab comer of the house as punishment for an infraction of her Stepmother’s rules. But she refuses to let her Stepmother’s and Stepsisters’ abusive treatment get her down. “In My Own Little Corner,” she sings, she can dream as she wishes and “be whatever I want to be.”

The King and Queen tell the Prince he cannot delay choosing a bride any longer. They decide he must give a ball to which all available prospects will be invited – and from which he must decide on the one he’ll wed. As the Herald’s stentorian tones announce the ball to the populace (“The Prince is Giving a Ball”), parents and daughters alike reflect on what it may mean for their chances of winning the Prince’s favor.

On the night of the ball, Cinderella is left alone at home when her Stepsisters and Stepmother depart for the palace. As she sobs in her own little corner (“In My Own Little Corner” – reprise), her Fairy Godmother appears and asks why she’s weeping. Cinderella says it’s because she wants to go to the ball but knows it’s impossible. “Bah,” comes the reply, “what’s a Fairy Godmother for?” (“Impossible!; It’s Possible!”) As the Fairy Godmother magically transforms a pumpkin into a golden carriage, four white mice into four white horses, and Cinderella’s tattered dress into an elegant ball gown, she passes along a piece of typically Hammersteinian philosophy: that impossible dreams can be achieved. Riding to the ball, Cinderella amends the words of her Fairy Godmother’s song to now affirm that “it’s possible!”

At the ball, the Prince dances (“Gavotte”) in turn with some of the eligible young ladies, including the two Stepsisters, but makes no secret of being disappointed in all of them.

As Cinderella arrives at the ball, the Prince is immediately drawn to the beautiful but unknown young lady and asks her to waltz with him. Alone together on a starlit terrace a bit later, the Prince confesses that the past ten minutes have changed his life, that it’s love at first sight (“Ten Minutes Ago”). Cinderella admits that she, too, has lost her heart.

Jealous of all the attention the Prince is giving the unrecognized Cinderella, the two Stepsisters let loose with a stream of catty venom as they realize they stand no chance of competing with anyone so lovely (“Stepsisters’ Lament”). The King and Queen, happy that the Prince seems to be “dancing on air,” move to the dance floor themselves (“Waltz for a Ball”).

In the moonlight, the Prince and Cinderella express in a duet the sort of romantic quandary that not only fairy-tale characters but also lots of plain mortals often find themselves in. “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful (or Are You Beautiful Because I Love You?)” is a prime example of the lyrical poetry Hammerstein could make out of the straightforward expression of thoughts and feelings other lyricists might consider too obvious or prosaic. Then, as the clock strikes midnight and Cinderella remembers her Fairy Godmother’s warning that her magic spell would last only to that hour, Cinderella flees from the palace – losing one of her glass slippers on the palace steps as her gown reverts to her old tattered dress.

Back home, as Cinderella’s Stepmother and Stepsisters reminisce about the ball, Cinderella dreamily tells them how she pictures what the evening must have been like (“When You’re Driving Through the Moonlight”). As the others scoff at her and go off to bed, Cinderella reminisces to herself about her night of nights (“A Lovely Night”).

The Prince, after searching his kingdom from one end to the other (“The Search”) for the girl whose foot fits the glass slipper, has finally found Cinderella. As her Fairy Godmother reminds them that impossible things are happening every day, Cinderella and the Prince enter the chapel to be married – leaving no doubt that, in true fairy-tale tradition, they’ll live happily ever after (“The Wedding”).
– Roy Hemming

Credits

Cinderella: Julie Andrews
The King: Howard Lindsay
The Queen: Dorothy Stickney
The Stepmother: Ilka Chase
Stepsister Portia: Kaye Ballard
Stepsister Joy: Alice Ghostley
Fairy Godmother: Edith Adams
The Prince: Jon Cypher
Town Crier: Robert Penn
Captain Of The Guard: Alec Clarke
Chef: Iggie Wolfington
Steward: George Hall
Court Tailor: David E. Perkins
Children: Kathy Kelly, Karen Lock, Leland Mayforth, Johnny Townsen, Karen Waters
Townspeople: Eleanor Phelps, Martha Greenhouse, Jerome Collamore, Julius J. Bloom, Jacquelyne Paige, John Call

Singers: Charles Aschmann, Herb Banke, Grace Dorian, Pat Finch, Marvin Goodis, Margot Moser, Earl Rogers