One of the most underrated, and beloved Cinderella adaptations has got to be the 1997 version that Disney produced for ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney. Even though it was made for TV, it’s a solid take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that still has its fans decades later. And at the center of its praise, it’s undeniably the coupling of Brandy and Paolo Montalbán and Cinderella and Prince Charming. Recently, the co-stars reunited for the first time since making the movie and someone captured the sweet moment.
Early this year, the House of Mouse listened to fans calling out the studio for leaving the title out of its collection on Disney+ and added the movie to the platform in February. In honor of the movie’s debut to streaming and 24th anniversary, Brandy and Paolo Montalbán had a great excuse to come together again. Check out the adorable moment:
Pablo Montalbán, who is now somehow 48 years old, took to his Instagram to share a brief clip of Brandy gazing at her prince for the first time in over twenty years. Brandy looks shocked and incredibly happy as her Cinderella co-star comes up to her. Instantly, the singer goes in for a hug and you can see the pair get super emotional as they embrace.
They also took a photo together, and honestly the years have been incredibly kind to Cindy and Prince Christopher. These two look as amazing as ever – as if their Disney roles were just 10 minutes ago.
In late November, the mini-reunion took place in New York City for Second Stage Theater’s annual gala, which decided to honor Debra M. Chase, a producer on Cinderella. Chase is the first African-American female producer to have a deal with a major studio and she certainly made history when she was part of casting the first Black (and only) Cinderella in a movie and Filipino-American actor Pablo Montalbán as her prince, alongside an overall diverse and progressive cast.
To this day, 1997’s Cinderella is a groundbreaking Disney film that highlights the Cinderella story as an interracial couple – which is still a rarity in Hollywood. Pablo Montalbán and Brandy came together to celebrate the producer and just in time to reunite for its anniversary. On the film's November 2 birthday, Montalbán shared this cute throwback photo:
Cinderella is definitely worth a rewatch over twenty years later, especially because of how well it holds up even with the passage of time between its release. Aside from its two leads, the movie featured the iconic talents of Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber as the King and Queen, Bernadette Peters as Cinderella’s stepmother and the late, great Whitney Houston as Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother. Now excuse us while “Impossible” gleefully gets stuck in our heads and we find ourselves pushing play on this classic once again.
