YMMV / Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein)

• Adaptation Displacement: The 1957 version never received a VHS release, and never aired on television again until 2004, causing many people to consider whichever remake they saw first the original. As of February 2021, the '57 telecast remains the only one without an official online streaming release, although it is available on an out-of-print DVD and on an unofficial YouTube upload.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: After Cinderella's slipper falls off in the 1965 version, she stares down at it, but doesn't pick it up — either because she doesn't have enough time to put it back on, or possibly to leave Prince Christopher with a way to find her.
• Critical Dissonance: Although the 1957 and 1997 versions got mixed reviews from critics, the former became the highest rated TV special of its time, while the latter became one of the highest rated TV musicals in years, and also fondly remembered by women of color for starring a black Cinderella.
• Gateway Series: The remakes turned many children into Rodgers and Hammerstein fans, boasting more kid-friendly material and shorter runtimes than the movie adaptations of R&H's plays.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: When the 1957 version came to DVD after a 47-year absence from television and home video, the phrase, "Impossible things are happening every day!" seemed to take on new meaning.
• Narm: The ridicule game in the Broadway version, where everyone insults each other for fun, until Cinderella claims that a new game called “kindness” is the latest fashion, and leads them in exchanging compliments instead. You know how the 90's version gets flack for being "overly PC"? The Broadway version plays this up to 11.
• Padding: The 1965 version's VHS tapes and DVDs tack on an overture, which combined with the opening credits result in quite the wait for the story to begin; Shout! Factory's DVD even asks the viewers, after pushing "Play", if they'd like to skip the overture.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Jon Cypher made his television debut in the 1957 version as Prince Christopher, and later became better known as Fletcher Daniels from Hill Street Blues.
  • Stuart Damon made his television debut in the 1965 version as Prince Christopher, and later became better known as Dr. Alan Quartermaine from General Hospital.
  • Santino Fontana, the original Broadway Prince Topher in 2013, later lent his voice to Prince Hans in Frozen (2013).
• Special Effect Failure: Cinderella's flying carriage in the 1965 version looks like a cel or cut-out puppet with a painted background sliding behind it. During the shots of Cinderella inside the carriage, the "countryside" seen in her window looks like it was added with a chroma key effect.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The Stepsisters get this in spades, particularly with their Villain Song "Stepsisters' Lament" (and also because they're so darn funny). It crosses over with Values Dissonance — the idea of a girl not being able to find a husband just because she's not conventionally attractive strikes home with many viewers. It's also clearly shown that their own mother has trained them to believe they should only marry a man for money and that their Character Tics are something to be ashamed of, it can be argued that she treats them only slightly better than she treats Cinderella.