No matter age or gender, we’ve all had those lifetime moments when it feels like an unfair workload or preferential treatment for a peer, be it a co-worker, siblings or others.
Especially when growing up and assigned chores and household duties, who hasn’t felt at least momentarily cast as the fairy tale role of “Cinderella”?
Varied versions of “Cinderella” and her “rags to riches” tale date back centuries.
Walt Disney gave the glass slipper gal the animated treatment with his 1950 animated feature film classic.
Today, readers still write to me about the spin from the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein telling of the tale as an annual television special, first with Julie Andrews starring in the title role for the 1957 black and white version, opposite the late greats Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley as her mean stepsisters and Edie Adams as the fairy godmother.
Then, in 1965, splashed with a full color TV airing, it was recast with Lesley Ann Warren (who turns 80 this year) as the glass slipper princess and funny, frumpy Pat Carroll and lanky Barbara Ruick as her nasty stepsisters under the watchful eye of icy Jo Van Fleet as Stepmother, contrasted by sweet Celeste Holm as the wand-waving fairy godmother. Iconic Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon were cast as the queen and king.
By 1997, there was another TV remake with Brandy starring as Cinderella for a new generation, with Bernadette Peters as her mean stepmother and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother.
When I met and interviewed classic character actress Pat Carroll in Los Angeles in 2007, she told me the two career highlights she would ever be associated with were playing the wicked stepsister in the Rodgers & Hammerstein TV special and later, her vocals cast to play the raspy voice if villainess sea witch Ursula for the Walt Disney animated 1989 feature film “The Little Mermaid.”
When I told her I’d never seen her in “Cinderella,” she autographed a color photo of herself in her character guise and told me it was my homework to go home and watch her in it.
“The kiddies love to hate me,” said Carroll, who died at age 95 in 2022.
“It’s always more fun to boo the bad guys than cheer for the good folks in these stories.”
The Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra has been rehearsing all week to invite guests to step into the famed fairy tales of yesteryear and today for their new concert with Maestro Kirk Muspratt, “Spellbound!” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, at Living Hope Church, 9000 West Taft St. in Merrillville.
The two-part fun concert starts with Stravinsky’s “Firebird” to ignite the stage with fiery rhythms, with a thrilling battle between light and darkness, all swirling around the mysterious powers of a single feather plucked from the mythical firebird.
After intermission, it is a lost glass slipper and two mean stepsisters as interpreted by composer Prokofiev with his famed ballet suite from “Cinderella.”
I’ll be sharing the stage with Maestro and these 80-plus talented musicians during the second act on Friday, perched on a stool on stage with a music stand front and center in the role of “narrator” for “Cinderella.”
I’ll also join Maestro before the concert for the 6:15 p.m. “pre-concert discussion.”
Friday morning, I’ll be with Maestro and the musicians for the two shortened versions of Friday evening’s program for two generously sponsored educational concerts that will pack in more than 1,800 students from more than 15 various elementary schools and educational outlets from throughout the area.
I’m honored to share the stage with Maestro Muspratt as this marks his 25th season in his conductor role with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, which is now in the midst of its 84th season.
Tickets for Friday night’s “Spellbound!” concert range from $49 to $89, and a $10 student price, with the option of group sales discounts also available for 10 or more people. Call the Symphony office at 219- 836-0525 or visit the website at www.NISOrchestra.org for more information.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at PhilPotempa@gmail.com.
