Essential “Cinderella” Stories On Streaming

Disney’s animated classic, Cinderella, is beautiful, dreamy, and the epitome of magical.  Cinderella’s glorious ice blue gown has defined the romantic dreams of generations of girls and boys, and I’m still waiting to meet a mouse that wants to help me sew a dress. [Where to Stream Cinderella (1950)]

Drew Barrymore gave modern audiences a feminist take on the Cinderella myth with Ever After. Barrymore’s Danielle is bookish, feisty, and capable of fighting her own battles. She’s also buddies with Leonardo Da Vinci. As BFFs go, that ain’t too shabby.  [Watch Ever After: A Cinderella Story]

“LOL. Are you going to put Cinderella Man on the list?” asked one of my co-workers. The answer is “Yes, I am going to put the Russell Crowe boxing biopic on my list of essential “Cinderella” stories.” It’s on HBO Go right now. So, why not? [Watch Cinderella Man]

Okay, I once posited that Annie is the most New York musical of all time. While I stand by that claim, I would also argue further that Annie is the most New York Cinderella story of all time. It’s about a plucky, down-on-her-luck orphan forced to do chores until she’s rescued by wealth, sent to live in a palace, and becomes a modern American princess. [Watch Annie (1982)]

When Fox decided that they wanted to put out their own animated spin on Cinderella, they turned to the modern myth of Anastasia. The legend goes that one of Tsar Nicholas II’s children survived being executed by the Bolsheviks in 1917 and that she was spirited into hiding. A plucky and homeless orphan is groomed by con men in St. Petersburg and presented to her grandmother for inspection. The twist? One of the con men falls for the beauty and she might actually, uh, be the long-lost princess.

Not to burst your bubble, but historians are actually fairly sure that the real Anastasia was executed by firing squad at the age of 17. Many women have claimed to be her over the years, but we now have DNA evidence of her death. But hey! This movie has lots of catchy songs! [Watch Anastasia (1997)]

The 1980s were a weird time. Case in point: in 1985 — TWO YEARS AFTER BOTH WAR GAMES AND FLASHDANCE — Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Beals starred in the Cinderella episode of Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre. The bizarrely delightful series featured big name stars of the day tackling whimsical fairy tales with some of the most divinely wooden acting caught on film. [Watch Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre: “Cinderella”]

So, technically, the new Into The Woods movie is not available to stream yet. I know. I’m sorry. This is how time and Disney works. However, you can watch the original Broadway production right now. Sure, it doesn’t have Anna Kendrick, but it does have Bernadette Peters (and is a favorite among musical purists). [Watch Into The Woods – the Bernadette Peters version]

I might have grown up with a well-worn VHS of the 1950 Cinderella, but there’s a whole new generation that came of age with Hillary Duff’s modern take on the fairy tale: A Cinderella Story. The farcical live-action film puts our heroine in high school and Chad Michael Murray plays her athletic Prince Charming. [Where To Stream A Cinderella Story]

A college professor once pointed out to me that Jane Austen essentially starts all of her novels like fairy tales. She gives you a run down of the heroine’s station in life, who her parents are, and how many siblings she has. Mansfield Park might be the book that owes the most to Cinderella. It’s the story of impoverished, but sweet, Fanny Price. She is sent by her family to live which richer relations at Mansfield Park and immediately becomes her demanding aunt’s stooge and lives in the shadow of her spoiled cousins. However, as Fanny grows up, she catches the eye of the rakish Henry Crawford. There’s a ball, and confusion, and by the end of the story, Fanny gets her happy ending. [Watch Mansfield Park]

Celebrated musical composers Rodgers & Hammerstein created a sweet and dreamy retelling of Cinderella that’s been staged numerous times with various famous ingenues over the years. However, it appears that the only version available to stream is the 1965 version featuring the enchanting Leslie Ann Warren. [Watch Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965) on Google Play or iTunes]