Brandy Norwood became the first African-American to play Cinderella. This version broke viewership records when it debuted, and it holds the record for the bestselling video for a made-for-TV movie.
First multi-racial cast performing Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
Whitney Houston was producing Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" and was to star in it until she decided that Brandy Norwood would make a better Cinderella. Brandy would not do it unless her idol Whitney took the Fairy Godmother role.
In an interview with Rosie O'Donnell, Bernadette Peters revealed that she hardly plays an evil character and it was hard being mean to Brandy.
Originally, in the song "In My Own Little Corner," Cinderella usually mentions she is a "young Norwegian princess." In this version, however, she mentions herself to be an Egyptian Princess. In addition, the lyric, "I'm a slave from Calcutta" was changed to "a thief in Calcutta".