Cinderella

Cinderella from Hey Cinderella!

Sesame Street News Flash

Numberella wears the number 21 to the ball.

Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration

Prairie Dawn in the starring role of Cinderella.

Cinderella is the featured character in a folktale which dates as far back as the 1630s. Over the centuries, the best known versions have been written and developed by the likes of Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and Walt Disney.

The story continues to inspire artists. It was conceived as a made for television muscial by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim includes Cinderella as one of the principle storylines in his Broadway musical Into the Woods, and the film Pretty Woman is a modern re-imagining of the fairy tale. Vince Gill and The Cheetah Girls have even recorded songs inspired by the rags to riches tale.

Portrayals

• In Hey Cinderella!, Belinda Montgomery plays the perpetually persecuted house-cleaner from the fairy tale that bears her name. She loves Arthur, the king's gardener, without knowing he's actually Prince Arthur Charming. She has a dog, Rufus, who helps her with the dishes and snarls at her Stepmother.

• On Sesame Street, Cinderella is usually portrayed by a Lavender Anything Muppet performed by Jerry Nelson, and at least once by Pam Arciero. Her stories have been chronicled in a number of Sesame Street News Flash segments.

• Numberella, a Sesame Street parody of Cinderella, was a storybook Gordon read to the kids, which was also acted out by several Anything Muppets. Numberella (performed by Fran Brill) does not have a number to wear to the Prince's party, as numbers 1 through 20 have already been taken. The Count shows up as Numberella's Fairy Countfather and gives her the number 21, which amazes everybody at the party, particularly the Prince, as they have never seen such a number before. (YouTube)

• Miss Piggy became Cinderella in Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration with a little help from her ""fairy god-thing" (Gonzo).

• Cinderella and her Pumpkin Coach appear in Elmo's Lift-and-Peek Around the Corner Book.

References

• A pilot for a proposed series was created for the Cinderella story, but never came to full fruition in that form. It has yet to be found.

• The Muppets on Puppets features a unique retelling of the story, with Little Girl Sue in the title role.

• In 1980, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy hosted an episode of Great Performances in which they watched the San Francisco Ballet's production of Prokofiev's Cinderella.

• Baby Piggy imagines herself as Cinderella in the third season Muppet Babies episode, "Pigerella."

• CinderElmo is a rare telling of the story with a male in the lead role, played by Elmo.

• Dinosaurs: Classic Tales featured a parody, "Cinderellasaurus".

• Zoe takes the lead in a version of the "Cinderella" story in the 2004 Sesame Street coloring book, Big Bird's Favorite Fairy Tales. Ernie and Bert play the wicked stepsisters, leaving Zoe home alone while they go to the ball to meet Grover, the Prince. Fairy godmother Rosita helps to put everything right.

• Abby Cadabby's mother is Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.

• Elmo reprises his role as CinderElmo in the 2008 book Storybook ABCs; Abby Cadabby turns a pumpkin into a coach for him.

• Miss Piggy attends a Costume Ball as Cinderella in the short story The Great Dress Disaster.

• Miss Piggy, donned in Cinderella's dress and riding in her pumpkin coach, is presented a glass slipper by Taye Diggs in a commerical for the promotion Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.

• In The Sesame Street Dictionary, the Sesame Street Players put on a pageant of Cinderella, with Prairie Dawn taking on the lead role (with an illustration by Joe Mathieu).

• A 2005 episode of Sesame Street features Elmo, Zoe, and Baby Bear playing with a ball that is actually Cinderella. Her Fairy Godmother accidently turned her into a ball instead of sending her to the Ball, and through yet another mix-up sends the trio to the Prince's Ball with Cinderella.

• In a 2010 episode of Sesame Street, Rosita, Abby, and a penguin are playing princess-roller skating, but the penguin can’t find her second skate. A Prince, played by Paul Rudd, pulls out a glass slipper, but the trio continues to search for the roller skate instead.