This article originally appeared in the March 1998 issue of FamilyFun. Cinderella 1998, Not rated ages 5 and up Walt Disney Home Video, $20 Last year's spectacularly successful made-for-TV version of the timeless fairy tale uses the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs composed for a 1957 Julie Andrews TV special - and it also uses some breakthrough notions about casting. In this lavish production, African American pop singer Brandy plays Cinderella, Whitney Houston is the fairy godmother, Broadway star Bernadette Peters portrays the nasty stepmom, Philippines-born Paolo Montalban is the young prince, Whoopi Goldberg the queen, and Seinfeld's Jason Alexander the prince's steward. The color-blind nature of the production makes this fantasy about love seem even more wondrous by offering a vision of a world where race and ethnicity don't have downsides. The writers, too, have given the story some decidedly contemporary twists. Here, the prince isn't just a handsome lug searching for the girl who lost her shoe; he's also a conscientious royal with a curiosity about the people he rules. This remarkably moving musical evokes the heyday of the big orchestra Broadway show. Everything clicks in this Cinderella. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Rea is a film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer. This article originally appeared in the March 1998 issue of FamilyFun.