The Slipper and the Rose (1976 Film Soundtrack)

If one needed an object lesson in the fickle nature of Hollywood and its precipitously shifting tastes, one could do worse than to examine the career of the songwriting brothers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. After inventing veritable swaths of Disney's musical theme park, TV, and film legacies in the '50s and '60s (including Zorro, The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book), the brothers found their talents largely underemployed in TV and film efforts after the death of Walt Disney. It isn't to say that their talents were in the least diminished, as this soundtrack to the 1976 U.K.-produced live-action adaptation of Cinderella ably attests. Fans of the Shermans' Disney canon should find this soundtrack restoration a welcome addition to their collections. The Shermans' music is a familiar, effervescent delight, even as it tackles the full emotional spectrum of romantic and familial entanglements, from Prince Edward's existential ponderings in "Why Can't I Be Two People?" through the king's Gilbert & Sullivan-esque take on royal bureaucracy in "Protocologically Correct" to the romantic pinings of "Secret Kingdom" and "He Danced with Me." The Slipper and the Rose is a musical cult favorite, and for good reason. --Jerry McCulley