It's a Good Time To Be a Cinderella Fan!

It's been a while since I've shared anything new from PattyCake Productions. Using state-of-the-art costume designs, visual effects, and professional actors, this group excels at recreating characters and scenes from classic Disney movies and putting their own spin on them. Their latest series showcases the evolution of various Disney characters through remakes, TV specials, and numerous other sources beginning Cinderella in a video that released on YouTube today called "If the Shoe Fits: The Evolution of Cinderella." The video features all five of Disney's Cinderella properties including the original 1950 animation, the 2015 remake, the 1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein adaptation featuring Brandy, the 2014 Disney adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, and the version of Cinderella that was portrayed in ABC's Once Upon a Time.

PattyCake has done it again! This music video was absolutely magical and exceeded all of my expectations. It takes place in a magical studio containing dolls, costumes, props, and posters from all of the incarnations of Cinderella that are featured in the video. Each version of the character appears in a fun and unique way from a model on an artist's desk to a living movie poster to a magic storybook. The video also features a magical dress transformation from rags to riches for each princess in the style of her original movie. As if that wasn't enough, it even incorporates hand-drawn animation from Disney's original animated classic. At the end of the video, the clock strikes 12, and each princess returns to her original form, ending the magic spell that PattyCake Productions cast over all of us. I've always been a fan of their videos, and I think this might be the best one yet! There are so many little easter eggs and subtle details hiding in every nook and cranny. It's pure magic!

But this fan video isn't the only big Cinderella news to drop recently. Not too long ago, it was announced that Brandy would be reprising her role as Cinderella for an upcoming Descendants movie called The Pocketwatch. Earlier this week, the movie's title was changed to The Rise of Red to better accommodate the plot of the Queen of Hearts' daughter, Red, teaming up with Cinderella's daughter, Chloe, on a time travel mission in Wonderland. In addition to the name change, fans were treated to a first look at Brandy and Paolo Montalban's return as Cinderella and King Charming on the set of the film! The fairy tale couple sports a more mature look than they did in the 1997 Wonderful World of Disney film with sweeping grand attire and an enormous crystal crown for Brandy. In keeping up with the Descendants style, Brandy also sports a long blue wig to match the other funky hair colors that the female characters in the franchise sport. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the new look. I think it looks like she's drowning in gobs of blue fabric, but I've never been a much of a fan of the costumes from Descendants in general. What do you think?

The final piece of news for Cinderella fans is that Bad Cinderella has made its official Broadway debut and is off to the races with its questionable marketing techniques. I've been pretty vocal about how I prefer the fairy tale look of the original West End production as opposed to this rebellious rainbow vomit, and as far as I can tell, the marketing of the new show hasn't improved since then. The newest commercial features the show's lead, Linedy Genao, interrupting the narrator only to tell you to listen to everything he's saying. What? Why was it necessary to interrupt then? Some of the earlier ads for the show that used storybook style illustrations made more sense when she interrupted because she was trying to tell audiences that this wasn't the same as the fairy tale version, but here, it makes no sense at all. It feels counter-productive to the goal that the commercial wants to achieve. I've heard that the Broadway version of the show is pretty similar to the West End one, so I'm glad about that, but I wish they hadn't made the cosmetic changes that they did because the costumes from the original were perfect.

There hasn't been any recent news about the Jennifer Lopez-produced Cinderella that was announced last year, but with all these other Cinderellas happening right now, I think we're good for a while. "Cinderella" is a story that will continue to be retold until the end of time, and these are just a few of its most recent incarnations. Is "Cinderella" your favorite fairy tale? Which version do you think is the best? Do you like the modern twists on the tale, or should just stick to the classics? Let me know in the comments!