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It’s been 25 years since Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella premiered to more than 60 million viewers on the ABC network’s anthology series, The Wonderful World of Disney. Now, the 1997 live action remake of Cinderella, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston, is finally available for streaming, thanks to Disney+.
In a special 20/20 episode that aired to commemorate the film’s 25th anniversary, Brandy reflected on how special it was to share the screen with her idol. “My dreams when I was a young girl (were) to be a singer, have my own band and meet Whitney Houston,” Brandy said, during the special. “I had no idea that my destiny would take me to a role (like) Cinderella, be the first woman of color to play her, and then for Whitney Houston to be my Fairy Godmother.”
The 20/20 Cinderella special reunited much of the 1997 film’s cast, which also included Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber and Paolo Montalban as the prince. Added Peters, when asked about the Brandy and Houston’s performance: “Their chemistry was just off the charts. I think Brandy admired her so much, and Whitney was so loving to her. And what could be more perfect than that,” Peters continued, “than having the Fairy Godmother be someone that loves you, and you look up to?
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The 20/20 Cinderella reunion special is now available to watch on-demand on Hulu. Don’t have a Hulu account? Get a 7-day free trial here to watch Cinderella: The Reunion, A Special Edition of 20/20 online.
You can now also stream Brandy’s version of Cinderella online. Read on to see how to watch (or re-watch) the 1997 TV movie online.
How to Stream the Live Action Cinderella on Disney+
Want to watch the Brandy and Whitney Houston version of Cinderella online? You’ll need to sign-up for Disney+ to watch the live action remake, which you can do here. The current price for Disney+ is $7.99/month, though there are a couple of hacks to get the best Disney+ deal with no promo code required.
Stream Live Action Cinderella on Disney+ Here
Your best bet, is to sign up for the Disney+ Bundle, which gets you Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for a total of just $13.99/month. This is a limited-time offer; Disney has announced that the price will go up in March.
Just need Disney+? You can sign up for an entire year of Disney+ for just $79.99, which basically gets you two months of streaming for free versus paying month to month.
How to Stream Brandy’s Cinderella on Disney+ for Free
Unlike services like Amazon Prime or Hulu, Disney+ doesn’t offer a free trial. However, we’ve found a way for you to watch the 1997 Cinderella free online without signing up for Disney+. If you are a Verizon subscriber, you may be eligible for their “Disney+ on Us” deal, which gets you six months of Disney+ for free. Use the deal to stream Brandy and Whitney Houston’s Cinderella on Disney+ for free. Get the deal or see if your current Verizon plan qualifies here.
You can stream the 1997 Cinderella, the original animated Cinderella, and all Disney+ content on just about any screen in your house, with the Amazon Fire TV 4K Stick, Roku or Apple TV. Prefer a physical version of Brandy’s Cinderella? Amazon still has copies of the movie musical available on DVD.
Stream Live Action Cinderella on Disney+ Here
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella Release Date, Cast, Run Time
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is available to stream on Disney+ now. The original TV movie musical was rated “G” for everyone, which made it a perfect family film. The live action Cinderella has a run time of one hour and 39 minutes.
Though it’s officially known as Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, thanks to the musical’s original songs by the iconic songwriting duo of Rodgers & Hammerstein, most fans of the 1997 film remember it as Brandy and Whitney Houston’s Cinderella, with the R&B singer starring as the Disney princess, and Houston as her Fairy Godmother.
As mentioned, the beloved movie musical cast also includes actors Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Natalie Desselle Reid, Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander, Veanne Cox, and Paolo Montalban as Prince Christopher (a.k.a. Prince Charming). At the time of its premiere, the 1997 musical film was celebrated for its diverse casting, with Brandy as the first-ever Black Disney princess, and Filipino-American Montalban, as the first-ever Asian prince.
The live action Cinderella became an instant favorite with fans and critics and audiences, earning seven Emmy Award nominations.
How to Find the 1997 Cinderella Soundtrack Online
In addition to garnering praise for its acting, the ABC version of Cinderella also spawned a successful soundtrack, featuring many of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s most popular songs, including “Impossible,” “In My Own Little Corner,” “Ten Minutes Ago,” “A Lovely Night,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” and more, sung by Brandy, Houston and the cast.
Unfortunately, a soundtrack for the Cinderella TV movie was never officially released, with many speculating that licensing and label issues were to blame. You can still find the original Broadway cast recording of Cinderella online, and the motion picture soundtrack from the 2015 movie version of the fairytale classic.
Watch Brandy’s Cinderella on Disney+ Now
Disney+ says Brandy’s Cinderella will join the “Celebrate Black Stories” collection that is on Disney+ right now, alongside Soul, Black Is King, Black Panther, Hidden Figures, and other Black-led films and TV shows.
Your Disney+ subscription gets you instant access to stream Cinderella, and watch the entire catalogue of Disney+ content, which includes most of the Disney animated films, the entire Star Wars franchise, and most of the Marvel movies and TV shows.