So, I found out Atlantic Records is the reason the soundtrack for the Brandy version of Cinderella was never released. They were committed to marketing her as an "urban" artist and felt the pop infused Broadway sound of the soundtrack didn't fit her image.

Clive Davis tried to change their minds but they wouldn't budge. Whitney was extremely disappointed. Cinderella was one of the projects she was most proud of and she was forever disappointed that a soundtrack wasn't released.

Whitney originally planned to play Cinderella but in the years it took the project to develop she felt she had moved on from that stage in her life. She hand-picked Brandy to play the part instead.

Several white actresses turned down the role because of the optics of the white stepmother being abusive to the little black girl. Bette Midler was asked but flatly turned it down for that reason. Bernadette Peters agreed to do it and said that wasn't a consideration for her.

The costume department presented Whoopi Goldberg with fake jewels. She insisted on wearing real jewels so, she gave them the contact information for Harry Winston who provided approximately $60 million dollars worth of jewels. Three armed guards were on set to protect it.

Speaking of jewels certain excuctives were nervous about having both a Black Fairy Godmother and a Black Cinderella. It was suggested by one executive who has never been named that singer Jewel replace Brandy in the lead role.

After the reaction at the premiere the film was screened in Pasadena for audiences to see what reaction would be to a theatrical release instead of the planned TV movie. Whatever the test audience said killed this idea.

Unlike the 1965 version ABC apparently only aired the film one more time. It was however a huge success on home video that year.

If you'd like to know even more please read this piece. She talks to essentially everyone involved. Plus there's a photo of Brandy and Paolo eating McDonald's in costume. https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a13138172/brandy-whitney-houston-oral-history-cinderella/

This all stemmed from me wanting to know why I can't hear "Impossible" on Spotify or stream the movie I've gotta stop going down these rabbit holes.

What I'm really manifesting is a Cinderella (1997) remastered edition released into theatres for a limited time, coinciding with the release of the soundtrack, a TV special about the filming of it, and of course a red carpet event to go with it all.