A Lovely Night
September 10, 2014 7:24 AM   Subscribe

Tonight, 21 year-old actress Keke Palmer will make her Broadway debut in the title role inRodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, the first African American actress to play the role in any stage production of the show, first mounted as a television production on CBS in 1957, with Julie Andrews.

First Look: Keke Palmer's Cinderella costumes

NBC news story (video)

MSNBC interview: Making History on Broadway (video)

Last month, after the shooting of Michael Brown, Ms. Palmer went to Ferguson, Missouri. During a protest, the police turned on tear gas and began to shoot at the crowd in which Palmer found herself. Her mother was hit with a rubber bullet.

30 Rock actress and The View host Sherri Shepherd will join the cast tonight as well, playing Cinderella's stepmother.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (19 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Looks like Akeelah won more than just the Bee.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:43 AM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


Cinderella was mounted as a TV production again in 1997, starring African American singer-actress Brandy Norwood as the head of a multiracial cast. Whitney Houston was the Fairy Godmother.

Cinderella is my mom's (and my) favorite R&H show; I still have the Brandy version on VHS tape somewhere.
posted by nicebookrack at 7:54 AM on September 10, 2014 [6 favorites]


The .... production .... has yet to have a black performer play its lead --- nor has any major live production of Cinderella

Yeah, well, just how many "major live productions" do they think there are of Cinderella, anyway? Not counting schools and community theaters, which aren't "major" productions, I'll bet it's a pretty small number.

And yep, I'm with nicebookrack: Brandy, 1997.
posted by easily confused at 8:08 AM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


How curious that she's the first in a live production - For me, the Brandy version was my first experience of the show.
posted by Gordafarin at 8:10 AM on September 10, 2014 [3 favorites]


I'll bet it's a pretty small number.

For sure, but it's still a big, big thing for Broadway. Especially this year, where there are currently African American actors playing the Phantom in Phantom of the Operaand Eponine in Les Mis.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:11 AM on September 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


The costumes are gorgeous! That gold gown, swoon. Why do none of my dresses incorporate a bustle? Though I'm wearing a Nicki Minaj for K-Mart dress today and lemme tell you (looks back) it might as well.

The media is always going to take the GROUNDBREAKING HISTORY!!!! tack, but honestly, anytime a woman of color gets to the the glamorous, envied, special princess star of anything it's going to make me happy. I'm happy she's not the first.
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:23 AM on September 10, 2014 [8 favorites]


I love, love, love all the pictures of her just beaming in the ball gowns while a ton of people are fussing over the fabric. I feel like she has her own enchanted mice to make her look like a Disney princess.
posted by xingcat at 8:36 AM on September 10, 2014


I have fond memories of the Brandy production, not the least of which was the weirdly coked-up Whitney Houston look (that turned out to be a little more spot on than we realized at the time).
posted by maryr at 8:49 AM on September 10, 2014


Also, man, that was a fun cast.
posted by maryr at 8:50 AM on September 10, 2014


William Ivey Long is Broadway royalty. He looks so pleased with his designs on her and seems to be having a ball (ahem) making her look like a princess..
posted by ReeMonster at 8:53 AM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


Her little sister, China, was in my daughter's class in a private school several years ago. Keke would come with Mom to class parties, etc. Sweet girl.... I wish her all the success.... My daughter adored China.....they were good buddies. I wish I could hook them up again....
posted by pearlybob at 8:53 AM on September 10, 2014


Also, man, that was a hot prince.
posted by maryr at 8:53 AM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


There were was an all-black TV movie adaptation of Cinderella called Cindy that aired in 1978, I think on ABC. It was set shortly after World War II and the Prince is an African-American war hero.
posted by jonp72 at 9:48 AM on September 10, 2014


This is great and all, but it would have been nice if they'd cast, you know, an actual musical theater performer.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:52 AM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


No love for the CBS remake in 1965? That's the one I remember.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:57 AM on September 10, 2014


Also, man, that was a hot prince.

That guy showed up at my birthday party one year! Definitely in the running for best birthday party ever. (It was at least a decade after the TV movie. still hot tho)

This is great and all, but it would have been nice if they'd cast, you know, an actual musical theater performer.

Have you seen a Broadway show in the last 50 years? Pop singers and people who are already famous for other things is pretty much all that's keeping American musical theatre afloat, in terms of ticket sales.
posted by Sara C. at 12:44 PM on September 10, 2014 [4 favorites]


Have you seen a Broadway show in the last 50 years? Pop singers and people who are already famous for other things is pretty much all that's keeping American musical theatre afloat, in terms of ticket sales.

There's some of that, but it's not nearly as prevalent as you might think. Broadway grossed over a billion dollars in 2013 with very little in the way of pop singers and otherwise-famous people.

Besides, "True Jackson VP" and someone from the View in a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical? This is stunt casting.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 12:57 PM on September 10, 2014


Before we get too upset about the integrity of Broadway, let's maybe remind ourselves yet again that this was original a TV special?
posted by maryr at 1:38 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


Palmer is one of my favorite Craig Ferguson interview subjects, which, as a huge fan of that show, really says something to me. Incredibly lucid for a 21 year old. I bet she'll nail it.
posted by Perko at 4:08 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


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