phil coulter wrote the town i love so well.
phil coulter wrote the town i love so well.
who wrote the town i love so well?
phil coulter
Na
Na
freedman's final teleplay is 11 minutes longer than previous adaptations, in turn offering several opportunities for new songs, some of which the producers felt necessary. disney asked the rodgers & hammerstein organization to be as open about changes to the musical's score as they had been about the script and cast. music producers chris montan and arif mardin were interested in combining "broadway legit with hollywood pop", re-arranging the musical's original orchestration in favor of achieving a more contemporary sound by updating its rhythm and beats. montan, who oversees most of the music for disney's animated films, had been interested in crossing over into live-action for several years and identified "cinderella" as one of the first opportunities in which he was allowed to do so. the musicians were not interested in completely modernizing the material in the vein of the musical "the wiz" (1974), opting to simply "freshen" its orchestration by incorporating contemporary rhythms, keyboards and instruments, similar to the way in which the studio approaches animated musicals. although filmmakers are usually hesitant to interpolate songs from other sources into adaptations of rodgers and hammerstein's work, ted capin, president of the rodgers & hammerstein organization, challenged the producers to conceive "compelling reasons" as to why they should incorporate new material into the remake, allowing the filmmakers significant freedom on the condition that the additions remain consistent with the project. three songs not featured in previous versions of the musical were added to augment the film's score, each of which was borrowed from a different rodgers and hammerstein source; these additions are considered to be the most dramatic of the changes made to the musical. "the sweetest sounds", a duet rodgers wrote himself following hammerstein's death for the musical "no strings" (1962), was used to explore the lead couple's initial thoughts and early relationship upon meeting each other in the town square, performing separately until they are united. the filmmakers found this song particularly easy to incorporate."falling in love with love", which rodgers wrote with lyricist lorenz hart for the musical "the boys from syracuse" (1938), was adapted into a song for cinderella's stepmother, a character who seldom sings or expresses her innermost feelings in previous adaptations of the fairy tale. she advises her own daughters about love and relationships, warning them not to confuse love with marriage. the filmmakers wanted to prove that stepmother is not simply "an evil harridan" but rather a "product of bitter experience", for which freedman himself suggested "falling in love with love". despite concerns that hart's "biting" lyrics would sound too abrasive against the rest of the score, james, hamerstein's son, was very much open to the idea. while mary, rodgers' daughter, was initially against using "falling in love with love", she relented once peters was cast as the stepmother, feeling confident that the broadway veteran was capable of "put[ting] a different kind of spin on it." the filmmakers also agreed that it would be wasteful to cast peters without allowing her to sing. according to peters, the song demonstrates her character's disappointment in her own life, exploring why she has grown so embittered and jealous of cinderella. performed while they prepare for the ball, the song was offered "a driving, up-tempo arrangement" for peters. although its original melody is retained, the music producers adapted the waltz into a "frenetic latin-tinged number in duple meter" more suitable for the conniving character. the filmmakers agreed that alexander deserved his own musical number due to his experience as a musical theatre performer, and decided to combine the steward's "your majesties" with the town crier's "the prince is giving a ball" from the original musical into an elaborate song-and-dance sequence. broadway lyricist fred ebb was recruited to contribute original lyrics to the new arrangement "that melded stylistically with the hammerstein originals." despite the fact that hammerstein's will states that altering his work is prohibited, james believes his father would have appreciated ebb's contribution since the songwriter had been known to enjoy collaborating with new lyricists.
cinderella (1997 film)