As it turns out, the TV musical remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" really is a Cinderella story - but for the prince.
Paolo Montalban was plucked out of obscurity to play the part. It's his first-ever appearance on film - his only credits are for minor parts and understudy roles in several stage musicals - all but one regional or touring productions."I was plucked from the ensemble on Broadway," ssaid Montalban, who was appearing in "The King and I." "I was carrying a torch. I was one of the torch guys and I was also an understudy for one of the roles.
"And I auditioned for this wonderful project. I didn't even know what I was getting myself into. And it's just been one surprise after the next."
Not surprisingly, when the word got out that they were casting for a prince to play opposite Cinderella the producers were "deluged" with hopefuls - more than a thousand. They eventually narrowed that down to about 100 actors.
"And, I swear, the very last person the very last day of auditions was Paolo," said executive producer Debra Martin Chase. "And it was that, literally, we were sitting there and we were tired, we were jaded, and we had been (saying), `What are we going to do?'"
In walked Montalban, who's not only strikingly handsome but has a magnificent voice.
"It's not a hard job," he said. "And I'm getting paid to do this," with a tinge of amazement in his voice.
Brandy, who's starring opposite Montalban as Cinderella, is no such novice. Not only is she a big-time recording star, but she's also headlined her own sitcom - "Moesha" - for the past couple of years.
Still, she feels like "Cinderella" is sort of a fairy tale for her, too.
After Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produced "Gypsy" with Bette Midler, they received a call from Whitney Houston looking for a similar project. They suggested "Cinderella," and Houston agreed.
But a series of problems, scheduling conflicts and delays almost killed the project.
"Four years had gone by and (Houston) called us and said, `I've got bad news for you. I can't really do this because I don't feel that I'm young enough to play Cinderella. And I've gone through life experiences that make it impossible for me to play the part,'" Zadan said. "And during that phone conversation, we said, `Well, what if you played the Fairy Godmother and we got Brandy to play Cinderella.'
"And Whitney, it turns out, was friends with Brandy and said, `I'm going to pick up the phone right now and call her.'"
Which she did.
"She called me, for real," Brandy said. "And she said, `You gotta play this part in the movie I'm about to do.' And I was like, `Really? What do I play?'
"She said, `You play Cinderella.' And I dropped the phone and I ran . . . screaming to my mon. And it's a fairy tale, really. I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me."
Brandy is a star in her own right. But the unaffected teen insists that "the highlight of this whole movie was meeting all the famous stars."
As for Montalban, he was plenty happy about the chance to play the charming prince opposite Brandy.
"How could a guy not be charming around a beautiful girl like this?" he said. "It sounds corny, but she's an angel."