Canada Journal – News of the World Articles and videos to bring you the biggest Canadian news stories from across the country every day
Lesley Ann Warren, who starred in the 1965 television version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will attend the Broadway production and join the cast during the curtain call for an encore performance of “Ten Minutes Ago” on September 23.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Warren said by phone Monday from Los Angeles. The actress hasn’t seen the show live but caught one song during the Tony Award telecast and called it “scrumptious.”
Warren’s turn as Cinderella, which came eight years after Julie Andrews played the part in a TV movie, also starred Walter Pidgeon, Stuart Damon, Ginger Rogers and Celeste Holm. Next year is the 50th anniversary of that production and a special DVD of it was released last year.
Warren joked that the idea of 50 years having past “makes me sick. It is crazy because it truly doesn’t feel that way to me. I can’t even wrap my head around it.”
Warren, 68, was nominated for an Academy Award in Blake Edwards’ gender-bending “Victor Victoria” and had recurring roles on TV’s “Desperate Housewives” and “In Plain Sight.”
When she recently started working on “Ten Minutes Ago” again, she felt very emotional. “It brought me back to that 18-year-old girl that I was creating that role,” she said. “It was such a momentous experience for me.”
Warren had been on Broadway as a 17-year-old in “110 in the Shade” in 1963 when she auditioned for “Cinderella” during the run. She eventually left the show to film the TV movie in California. “It changed my life,” she said. “It became a classic so quickly. It affected not only me but it affected so many people who were kind enough to let me know how it impacted their life.”
The new Broadway production stars Keke Palmer as Cinderella and Sherri Shepherd as the stepmother. It will close after the Jan. 3 performance at the Broadway Theatre.
Agencies/Canadajournal
