Reception
The 1957 version of Cinderella was seen by the largest audience in history at the time of its premiere: 107,000,000 people in the USA, fully 60% of the country’s population at that time. Variety estimated that 24.2 million households were tuned in to the show, with an average of 4.43 viewers each. Jon Cypher later remembered leaving the studio a few minutes after the broadcast had ended and finding the Manhattan streets deserted because so many had stayed in to watch the broadcast.
A New York Times review by Jack Gould characterized the musical as "a pleasant Cinderella that lacked the magic touch." He wrote that the broadcast received an "extraordinary range of reactions; it was either unreservedly enjoyed, rather angrily rejected or generally approved, subject to significant reservations." He praised Andrews as a "beguiling vision" in "lovely color video." But he complained about the book ("What possessed Mr. Hammerstein to turn the stepsisters into distasteful vaudeville clowns?"); about errors in "the most elementary kind of showmanship;" about costume ("couldn't Cinderella have been dressed in a dreamlike ball gown of fantasy rather than a chic, form-fitting number?"); about the songs ("not top-drawer Rodgers and Hammerstein"); and the staging ("cramped... excellent depth, but limited width marred the ballroom scene"). He judged the songs "reminiscent and derivative of some of their earlier successes" but praised four of them and said "In television, where original music is virtually nonexistent, these add up to quite a treat... some current musicals cannot boast as much melodically."
The 1965 version was broadcast repeatedly. The 1997 production was the #1 show of the week, with over 60 million viewers. It became the highest-rated TV musical in a generation. Although it was a hit with audiences, it received mixed reviews. Theatre historian John Kenrick called it a "clumsy remake" of the musical, but noted that Bernadette Peters' "shtick trying on the glass slipper is hilarious". The New York Times praised the performers (Montalban has "an old-fashioned luxurious voice"; Jason Alexander "provides comic relief"; Goldberg "winningly blends royal dignity with motherly meddling"; Peters "brings vigor and sly comedy") but commented that the musical "was always a pumpkin that never turned into a glittering coach... the songs are lesser Rodgers and Hammerstein... it doesn't take that final leap into pure magic. Often charming and sometimes ordinary, this is a cobbled-together Cinderella for the moment, not the ages." Other critics, however, praised the presentation. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reviewer wrote: "Grade: A, a version both timely and timeless." The San Diego Union-Tribune agreed: "this version has much to recommend it." An encore broadcast on Valentine's Night 1998 drew another 15,000,000 viewers.
Read more about this topic: Cinderella (musical)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
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“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)