A Tale of Cinderella (1998)

With a silver of moonlight a heartful of dreams and songs that turn frowns upside-down, along comes a glorious stage-to-screen production to remind young and old alike that magic is alive and well. Christianne Tisdale, who debuted on Broadway as Belle in 'Beauty and the Beast,' again steps into an enchanted world in the title role of this lavish New York State Theatre Institute production. Adored by her merchant father Paolo (Joel Aroeste), yet mistreated by her selfish stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella remains caring, unspoiled and true - exactly the kind of person the king's son (Sean Frank Sullivan) hopes to someday meet and wed. But how can a lowly scrubgirl ever marry a Prince? The answer lies in teh spells of a lively Godmamma (Lorraine Serabian) and mischievous Godpapa (John Romeo), the chimes of midnight, and the search for the foot that fits a mysterious glass slipper. A Tale of Cinderella sparkles like that slipper - and fits perfectly.

Sleep well. Dream Happy.

This production is sweet, but not too sweet. Scary, but not too scary. Fantastical moments are balanced by earthy reality. And the happy ending is something to work for, not simply to be granted. Which, if I'm not mistaken, is exactly the combination a faerie tale should have. Watch it and you'll be almost guaranteed to Dream Happy (unless you're a wicked stepmother, of course). June 13, 2008

A Tale of Two Cinderellas

This New York State Theatre Institute production of a classic, Italian version of the fairytale, 'Cinderella,' is a metaphor for the oft used description, "Where you sit determines what you see." And, a child who watches 'A Tale of Cinderella' sits in a seat entirely different than that of an adult.

First, children (especially little girls) love 'A Tale of Cinderella.' The music and lyrics, created by Will Severin and George David Weiss, are engaging. And, what little girl does not wish to be a princess? 'A Tale of Cinderella,' is the classic story, but there is a "realness" in a stage production. There princess who endures real-life tragedies, the death of her mother and the marriage of her father to a witch of a stepmother. She overcomes these tragedies with the help of her fairy godmother to marry a prince. The live action on the stage adds realness for the younger viewer that the animated productions do not. Seeing little girls watch 'A Tale of Cinderella' over and over, it's not hard to understand that this regional production had such a successful run and caught the attention of Warner Brothers.

On the other hand, an adult will notice that this translation of a stage play to the small screen is a little clunky. There may not have been any way for the camera angles to have been improved, and as such, the action does not seem natural. Camera angle is not the only reason, however. An adult home video audience is not accustomed to seeing stage actors acting in a stage play on television, so some of the facial expressions and movements appear unnatural. Stage direction and the stage actors' anxiety due to the knowledge of being recorded for video may also have contributed to the unusual end product. Regardless of the reason, many, more mature viewers, i.e., parents, may find 'A Tale of Cinderella' a difficult to endure.

A bright spot with which both children and adults can identify, however, is the performance of Christianne Tisdale, who plays Angelina, or Cinderella. A veteran of the Broadway stage, Ms. Tisdale is a rose in a briar patch. The rest of the cast is mostly second-tier, regional actors. Sean Frank Sullivan is serviceable as the Prince, but many of the other performances are either overdone (the fairy godmother) or just terribly average (the evil stepmother). Fortunately, Ms. Tisdale single-handedly carries the show for the adult viewer with her angelic voice, stage presence, and experience.

If I were a seven-year old girl, give or take three years, I would have to give 'A Tale of Cinderella' a full, five-star rating, because I really would not know or care about good acting, directing, or producing. I would simply love the music and love Cinderella. On the other hand, if I were, say, a father of a couple of girls between the ages of four and ten, it would be difficult for me to look past the strangeness of the stage play on video and the mostly undistinguished performances. I, too, would have enjoyed the music and I would have loved to hear Christianne Tisdale sing. As such, I would only give the video two stars. Rounding up, it's a four.

*** 1/2 October 8, 2005

Our daughter is in love with this play!

Our six year old daughter rented this movie and loves it. She has always been fascinated with Cinderella. We are to return the movie today and she is insisting it is hers. Our daughter is autistic and for her to have this much interest in a play amazes me. I catch her singing the songs. Maybe we have an actress to be on our hands? So, for us this is a great movie because it is so well done and it has inspired our daughter. June 5, 2004

I LOVED IT

I loved this movie.I bought two Thursdays ago and got last Tuesday.I wish they wrote a script for it like they did for Buffy The Vampire Slayer.I love the way Christianne Tisdale played Cinderella.I loved all the songs,but my favorite one was "SOME SWEET DAY".I would recomend it to all kids and adults.You'll love the movie. April 8, 2003

Great Performance

Simply BELLISSIMO. I enjoyed this movie from the first scene to the last. It is the first in my list of CINDERELLA movies. Bravo to all the actors and directors, no one excluded. However, the Godmama was superb! September 2, 2002

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