Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein may be gone, but their work is making a splash this season in every medium imaginable. Airing on ABC-TV Nov. 2 will be a new staging of the TV-musical, Cinderella, starring Bernadette Peters, Whoopi Goldberg and pop star Brandy (as Cindy).
Coming to Broadway in the spring is The Sound Of Music, in a revival featuring Rebecca Luker.
Reports (in both the NY Post and Daily News) persist that movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering the role of the King of Siam in the current, Tony-winning revival of The King And I.
In Los Angeles, KGIL-AM radio has gone to an all-showtune format, featuring many of R&H compositions.
The big R&H news today, however, is that there's a brand new Rodgers & Hammerstein website -- http://www.rnh.com. The site has been launched to coincide with the Cinderella event and will feature a RealVideo sequence from the upcoming TV special. (The promotion begins Oct. 27 and runs only to Nov. 3).
Scenes from the long-unseen 1957 Julie Andrews broadcast will be shown, with corresponding scenes from the new Cinderella. Andrews' costars included Fairy Godmother Edith Adams, Prince Jon Cypher and Step-sisters Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley, in excerpts from such songs as "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible," "Ten Minutes Ago," and "Step-sisters Lament."
After the Cinderella promotion, the new website, designed by T3 Media, will provide show-by-show information on all songs and productions written by Rodgers & Hammerstein and/or handled by their organization, Williamson Music and the Irving Berlin Music Company.
* For more information on the TV special, please see the news story, "Bernadette, Whoopi, Whitney in New TV Cinderella Nov. 2."
* For more information on KGIL-AM radio, please see the news story, "Rigby & Other Stars Planned For L.A. Radio's KGIL-AM."
* For more information on the Schwarzenegger/King connection, please see the news story, "Producers Deny Siam Will Get King Schwarzenegger."
* For more information on The Sound Of Music, please see the news story, "Rebecca Luker To Star in B'way Sound of Music Revival."
