A Brighter Day / Cinderella

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Steo shined as an actor, too.
This piece of art from Cinderella panto he participated is a good example of it.

Steo starred as Dandini, a prince's servant who helps the price to meet his destiny. Here, he seems to be singing to encourage the prince, who doesn't look confident enough. I can only catch a part of what he is singing so if you understand the entire song then I would appreciate it if you could let me know!

The message I got is that it's important to believe in your dream to be OK and accept the reality. He's also saying you should take your time. Beautiful, touching song indeed, all the more so, especially when he is the one singing.

I really wish there was an official recording of this...!!

In search of motherly protection

Cinderella's childhood reminds me of that of Cosette from Les Misérables. I met the beautiful, emotional songs written for its musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg when I was listening to English lessons for beginners on the radio in my early teens. Listening to Cosette's mother, Fantine's Death song I cannot help crying! The video of it is the musical played by high school kids (with a couple of exceptions). It looks like many high schools play musicals like this, and I found many of their performances pretty impressive.

"Castle on a Cloud" Les Misérables (2012) musical film	There is a castle on a cloud, I like to go there in my sleep, Aren't any floors for me to sweep, Not in my castle on a cloud ... There is a room that's full of toys, There are a hundred boys and girls, Nobody shouts or talks too loud, Not in my castle on a cloud ... There is a lady all in white, Holds me and sings a lullaby, She's nice to see And she's soft to touch, She says "Cosette, I love you very much" I know a place where no one's lost, I know a place where no one cries, Crying at all is not allowed, Not in my castle on a cloud
"Come to Me" Played by The King's Academy, Christian school in South Florida(2017)	Cosette, it's turned so cold Cosette, it's past your bedtime You've played the day away And soon it will be night Come to me, Cosette, The light is fading Don't you see The evening star appearing? Come to me, And rest against my shoulder How fast the minutes fly away And every minute colder ... Hurry near, another day is dying Don't you hear, The winter wind is crying? There's a darkness which comes Without a warning But I will sing you lullabyes And wake you in the morning ****** (VALJEAN) Oh, Fantine, Our time is running out But Fantine, I swear this on my life Look, M'sieur, Where all the children play Be at peace, be at peace evermore My Cosette... Shall live in my protection Take her now Your child will want for nothing Good M'sieur, You come from God in Heaven And none shall ever harm Cosette As long as I am living Take my hand The night grows ever colder Then I will keep you warm Take my child I give her to your keeping Take shelter from the storm For God's sake, Please stay till I am sleeping And tell Cosette I love her And I'll see her when I wake...

I've read a history book that says "evil stepmothers" is a stereotype based on peoples' desires that biological mothers always love their own childrens, and beliefs stepmothers can't be that affectionate because they are not real mothers. They say such views lack good evidence.I would say at least an argument about who are "real" mothers won't make many people happy, and anyone in societies who are willing to take care of kids dearly can be theirs. The majority of us are children of non-biological relationships anyway.

Back to Cinderella, I've watched Cinderella ballet on TV, too, but somehow, it wasn't as enjoyable as Snow Queen for me. I may simply prefer the music alone by Prokofiev below. This music is imaginative enough to take you to the worlds of Cinderella.

Act I [00:00:00] -- 01. Introduction [00:02:23] -- 02. Shawl Dance [00:05:43] -- 03. Cinderella [00:08:38] -- 04. The Father [00:11:20] -- 05. The Fairy Godmother [00:13:29] -- 06. The Sisters' New Clothes [00:15:36] -- 07. The Dancing Lesson [00:18:19] -- 08. Departure of the Stepmother and the Sisters for the Ball [00:19:41] -- 09. Cinderella Dreams of the Ball [00:21:53] -- 10. Gavotte [00:24:06] -- 11. Second Appearance of the Fairy Godmother [00:25:32] -- 12. Spring Fairy [00:26:49] -- 13. Summer Fairy [00:28:16] -- 14. Grasshoppers and Dragonflies [00:29:04] -- 15. Autumn Fairy [00:30:31] -- 16. Winter Fairy [00:31:39] -- 17. The Interrupted Departure [00:32:30] -- 18. The Clock [00:33:49] -- 19. Cinderella's Departure for the Ball Act II [00:35:48] -- 20. Dance of the Courtiers [00:38:06] -- 21. Passepied [00:39:39] -- 22. Bourrée [00:41:06] -- 23. Skinny's Variation [00:41:54] -- 24. Dumpy's Variation [00:43:22] -- 25. Dance of the Courtiers (Reprise) [00:44:05] -- 26. Mazurka and Entrance of the Prince [00:47:13] -- 27. Dance of the Prince's Four Companions [00:48:07] -- 28. Mazurka [00:50:41] -- 29. Cinderella's Arrival at the Ball [00:53:14] -- 30. Grand Waltz [00:58:21] -- 31. Promenade [00:59:46] -- 32. Cinderella's Variation [01:01:14] -- 33. Dance of the Prince [01:02:13] -- 34. Refreshments for the Guests [01:03:27] -- 35. Duet of the Sisters with the Oranges [01:04:56] -- 36. Duet of the Prince and Cinderella [01:09:47] -- 37. Waltz-Coda [01:12:21] -- 38. Midnight Act III, Scene I: The search for Cinderella [01:14:25] -- 39. The Prince and the Cobblers [01:16:15] -- 40. First Galop of the Prince [01:17:49] -- 41. Temptation [01:21:15] -- 42. Second Galop of the Prince [01:22:10] -- 43. Orientalia [01:24:24] -- 44. Third Galop of the Prince Act III, Scene II: The Prince with Cinderella [01:25:47] -- 45. Cinderella's Awakening [01:30:01] -- 46. The Morning After the Ball [01:32:32] -- 47. The Prince's Visit [01:36:21] -- 48. The Prince Recognizes Cinderella [01:38:57] -- 49. Slow Waltz [01:43:51] -- 50. Amoroso

Dreaming without sleeping, but by believing

I used to be a gamer. Below is a gameplay footage called Kingdom Hearts that features Cinderella (2010). KH is a role-playing game created through the collaboration of Disney and Square Enix. The latter is best known for its Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.

Forgive me for posting this even though I don't follow the story (of KH, which I've never played). Basically, according to what I've read, the story revolves around the worlds which themselves are made of hearts, the gateways of which are their keyholes. The villains try to steal their hearts, as heroes will stop their dark schemes by sealing the keyholes with keyblades. Keyblades can also be used to bring back peoples' hearts stolen by the villains.

The collaboration idea was proposed by a Square Enix developer as an elevator pitch, who caught a Disney executive in the elevator of the building they used to share.

Final fantasy series was one of my favorite, but I'm honestly having a hard time catching up with the modern trend that allows anything to happen... I mean, it sure is comical to imagine Disney characters running around in the battle fields devoid of dreams in the FF games I played. It was made possible because everything was adjusted to the world of Disney, who is the producer of KH.

A soldier in this game says, "She (Cinderella) made me realize how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible things seem, a powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the darkness" Sounds Disney enough?

Dream or Greed? The truth in your fortress

Finally, speaking of a castle on a cloud, there is this beautiful, heavenly music played at Zenithian (Heavenly) castle in the aforementioned game, Dragon Quest by Enix (later Square Enix).

This is an orchestrated version. (FYI, Dragon Quest is illustrated by A.Toriyama, the creator of a famous manga, Dragon Ball) The music composer, K. Sugiyama has passed away last year (2021) at the age of 90. DQ series owes its success a lot to his imagination skills and creativity.

Zenithian castle, inhibited by winged, angel-like people, is free of evil energy that started to cover the earth. I still remember being struck by its otherworldliness expressed in both music and graphic despite their low quality. The contrast with the earth where you are forced to fight demons couldn't possibly be better explained. The world above is peaceful and filled with beauty and joy just because it's pure, it's as simple as that, they say. The music sounds dreamy enough, too.

The 8-bit graphic of NES resembles LEGO toys and is nothing close to virtual reality kids enjoy today, but thanks to this very minimal visualization and audio, on top of its lack of explanation in details, playing video games at least to me, felt like reading books rather than watching movies at that time in that you have to use your own imagination to understand and experience the worlds. As games developed to be more "realistic" and I got busier in my so-called real life, I lost my interest in playing them by my late teens, which made my game experiences through my childhood somewhat more treasurable.

Let me add a few more points to conclude. I wouldn't have analyzed this way because I was small, but what was so attractive to me is the melody of wisdom this music sounds to convey. Here's a question. If your friend says to you "I want to be a millionaire and live in a castle!", would you consider what he or she has greed or a dream? Aren't the words, dream and greed interchangeable most of the time?

I suppose what sets dream apart from greed is the possible presence of what we call truth or wisdom in it. The head of monsters, Saro, has messed up the evolutionary process of life to become the fiercest ruler to terminate mankind, greedy, heartless ones of which have killed his elf lover who sheds tears of rubies when forcing her to cry.

At the final battle, he evolved to be an uglier, frightening figure (then again, still nothing but a mere anime compared to grotesqueness the technology today can create), but even as a child, I thought this monster in his ultimate form looked sad and scared at the same time. He was greedy too after all, and might have been driven by fear to be obsessed so much with power, the fear that he would be nothing without his lover, or, unless he attacks first, he will be buried in the darkness by humans he loathed.

Zenithians knew better, thus managed to maintain their peaceful, harmonious lives until they needed hero's help when the evil evolution process taking place at the underworld got out of hand. The music at Zenithian castle do sound like it's trying to tell us something important to remember, keep in your heart, to live your dream, that is (your) truth.

Here's another sample. This music is played when the hero is on his lone journey after his homeland was destroyed by the monsters along with the villagers. His sweetheart casted a spell on herself to become his clone while she and the villagers sheltered him from the monster attacks, which was the only thing they could do to let him survive. By sacrificing her life, she succeeded in deceiving the monsters, making them convinced that they killed the Zehithian-human hybrid boy who was prophesied to defeat evil and save the world. This music is so illustrative that it helps us understand his feelings and what surrounds him; how he is in a state of shock, trying to figure out if he is only meant to be awake from the nightmare, the whole reason why it had to happen. Overwhelmed with sadness he may find no strength within himself, yet he feels the gentle breeze and warm sunlight in the wilderness, encouraging him to step forward, watching over his destiny from afar.

Anyway, main characters of this game include a princess, who was taught martial art for her self defense. She became too good at it, and eventually escaped from the cocoon that was her castle, hoping to try out her surviving skills during her adventurous excursions. She is escorted by a dead serious young priest whose mission is to protect his princess at any cost, and an elderly sorcerer who has been having a hard time educating her to be a "normal" lady. This looks like the opposite version of Cinderella. Which position would you choose?

Castles, as I understand it, are not necessarily the most valuable housings on earth, serving to welcome guests for parties and such to set you the most luxurious and romantic meetings, the premises only royals can afford but rather, a fortress for its people to guard its territories. In that sense, wouldn't your dream need to be protected, too, like a castle on a cloud?

What would your castle on a cloud be like? How would you spend your time there?

So much to dream, so much to live for...