When I was very little I discovered my mother’s collection of soundtracks. They were mainly Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals: Oklahoma, Carousel, The Sound of Music but she had Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man too, which is one of my all time favorites.

I would play them on the stereo in the living room. Dance around. Sing. Act out the parts – once I was old enough to understand that they were telling stories. I can’t remember when I reached an age where I was too self-conscious to perform “publicly”, but eventually the stereo was dismissed to the basement where my “productions” continued well into my early teens.*

Since then I have had a life long love of musicals, but not so much as something to watch. My affair is music and lyric based, and of course, all about the story-telling.**

Cinderella was one of my favorites growing up. I remember watching it on television yearly for a long time. I don’t remember the girl who played Cinderella but the Prince was portrayed by a soap actor on one of my favorite soaps, General Hospital.

The following clip is from the 1997 Whitney Houston/Brandy version. I used to show it to my students when we were studying folk/fairy tales. The multi-ethnic casting never seemed to bother them, a testament to the power of the story, I think.

The song is Ten Minutes Ago and it reminds me of both my husbands.

*I always wanted to get up on stage and sing, dance and act, but I was too shy and too aware of my size. The only time I tried out for a play in high school I was rejected because of my weight.

**The only musical I have ever seen live was Les Miserables, and yes, I know it is overwrought, but the songs are wonderful and story is compelling.