Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella Eyes Broadway Run with New Book From Douglas Carter Beane

The first Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is eyeing a run during the 2012-13 season, according to the New York Times. The show, which was first produced as a made-for-television film in 1957, will feature a new book by Douglas Carter Beane (Sister Act, Lysistrata Jones). A workshop of the musical is expected to take place in April. While producers have an actress in mind for the title role, no potential casting has been revealed.

Cinderella, which starred Tony winner Julie Andrews in the title role, is the only show Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote for TV. The film was remade for TV in 1965 starring Lesley Ann Warren, Ginger Rogers and Celeste Holm, and again in 1997 starring Brandy Norwood, Whitney Houston, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander and Whoopi Goldberg. Stage versions have played throughout the U.S. and at the New York City Opera.

The production is expected to feature several songs that were cut from other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals including South Pacific ("Now is the Time") and The Sound of Music ("I've Lived and I've Loved"). It would also feature several changes to the book including eliminating the characters of Cinderella's birth mother and father, as well as the King and Queen (who will be replaced by one character who oversees the Prince and the kingdom).