Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Overview... the “Wicked Stepmother” who rules over Cinderella with an iron fist. Rather than embrace her stepdaughter with love, Lady Tremaine forces Cinderella to work as the family’s maid and tend to the needs of her own children, Anastasia and Drisella. Her biggest goal is to see her two daughters married off to wealthy husbands.
Personality... elegant, icy, and ruthless. To the outside world, Lady Tremaine is a sophisticated socialite. But in her private life she’s more like a tyrant, demanding perfection from her daughters and servitude from Cinderella. She’s also very intelligent, often creating schemes that allow her to get her way with her plans without seeming outwardly cruel. Much of Lady Tremaine’s wickedness stems from her deep insecurities and her jealousy of Cinderella’s beauty.
Get to Know her in...
-
When her father unexpectedly passes away, young Ella finds herself at the mercy of her cruel stepmother and her daughters. Never one to give up hope, Ella's fortunes begin to change after meeting a dashing stranger in the woods.
-
Cinderella has faith her dreams of a better life will come true. With help from her loyal mice friends and a wave of her Fairy Godmother's wand, Cinderella's rags are magically turned into a glorious gown and off she goes to the Royal Ball. But when the clock strikes midnight, the spell is broken, leaving a single glass slipper—the only key to the ultimate fairy-tale ending.
-
After the success of the live 1957 Cinderella on CBS (with Julie Andrews), the network decided to produce another television version. The 1957 premiere had been broadcast before videotape was available, so only one performance could be shown. CBS mounted a new production in 1965, with Richard Rodgers as Executive Producer and written by Joseph Schrank. The new script hewed closer to the traditional tale, although nearly all of the original songs were retained and sung in their original settings. Added to the Rogers and Hammerstein score was "Loneliness of Evening", which had been composed for South Pacific in 1949 but not used in that musical. The 1965 debut had a Nielsen rating of 42.3, making it the highest-rated non-sports special on CBS from the beginning of the Nielsen ratings until 2009, and the 50th highest-rated show of any kind during that period.
