Brandy Is Cinderella Again & Still “Blown Away” By Chemistry With Paulo Montalban

There are a few things that raised me. My parents and big brothers, of course, but when it comes to pop culture, I can rattle off a very specific list of the movies, TV shows and moments that are definitively responsible for making me who I am. Brown Sugar’s Sidney Shaw cemented my ambition to be a music journalist. Dawson’s Creek (which I was way too young to be watching) turned me into a lover girl addicted to romance. Love & Basketball taught me what not to look for in a man (been a proud Quincy McCall hater for 24 years!). The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit, Clueless, The Princess Diaries, and Bring It On were also seminal formative texts of my youth. But there was a TV show and a TV movie that both became my obsessions, my comfort watches, and contributed to my lifelong allegiance to Brandy Norwood. 1997’s Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Moesha weren’t just two of the most popular pieces of culture to hit the ‘90s, they felt like they were made specifically for me, a little Black girl with an overprotective dad (Moesha) who spent most of my childhood sittin’ up in my room in my own little corner (Cinderella, iykyk). 

I am a child of Brandy, and so you can imagine how I felt when I found out that she was reuniting with her Cinderella co-star Paulo Montalban for Descendants: Rise of Red to reprise their roles as Cinderella and Prince (now King) Charming playing the parents of Chloe Charming (Malia Baker) and that I would get to interview the pair 27 years after Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella premiered. Sure, I only got the heads up 24 hours before the junket so that was part of my freak out, but honestly, I had been preparing my whole life for this. When I opened my interview with Brandy and Montalban (and Baker) asking if they understood how impactful the original movie was, I was holding back tears as they smiled their radiant haven’t-changed-in-almost-three-decades smiles.

“Yes, I understand it,” Brandy said over Zoom. “And I'm so grateful for it to be a part of something so special and so magical. And then to get a chance to be a part of something else that's going to do the same thing. I'm excited.”

Montalban also expressed his excitement over the reunion. “It only took, what 27 years, but over the years, I finally got it. And I've accepted it. I'm honored to be a part of something that meant so much to so many people,” he said. “And, like Brandy said, I’m really excited to bring in a whole new generation, to hopefully inspire them and through the characters that Malia and Kylie (Cantrall) are playing [in Descendants] to help them understand that it's okay to find your own way in this world. I’m just just totally honored and blessed to be here.” 

Brandy and Montalban inspired a generation to believe in their dreams a little harder (impossible? I don’t know her) but through their onscreen love story, they also brought to life something we rarely get to see on TV: an interracial romance that didn’t center whiteness. In the OG Cinderella’s world, a Black queen (Whoopi Goldberg) and white king (Victor Garber) could make a Filipino son. A Filipino Prince Charming and a Black Princess wasn’t treated as irregular, or impossible, it just was. And it was beautiful. I can’t count how many times I rewatched the iconic ballroom scene where Brandy’s Cinderella and Montalban’s Prince Charming waltz to “10 Minutes Ago” singing to each other like there’s no one else in the room. By the time they sing “I have found her” and “I have found him” while twirling effortlessly across the dance floor, it was a wrap. It was the most romantic thing I had ever seen and truly altered my brain chemistry, setting the bar high for romance and the standard for the kind of chemistry two leads should have in movies like this. Brandy told me that after all these years, that connection was still there. 

“I was so blown away by our chemistry,” she said. “It just felt like we have known each other well, we've known each other for a long time…. But even with Malia it just felt like we've known each other forever. It just came across so natural and so authentic.” 

In Descendants: Rise of Red, Cinderella and King Charming reunite for a beautiful scene and Brandy is right, their chemistry is just as dazzling as it was almost 30 years go. Together, the duo sing “So This Is Love” while their daughter watches on. The first time I watched the scene, I was a wreck. Montalban said the moment Brandy shows up in the film was his favorite thing to shoot. 

“I was down at the bottom of the hill and for me, [my most memorable moment] was Brandy’s entrance through the mist,” he said, turning to his co-star. “You looked like a beautiful spirit [and an] other worldly vision.” 

Montalban’s admiration for Brandy after all these years is so sweet to witness, and both stars’ humility proved that I chose right when I was a kid obsessed with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. In the spirit of “Impossible,” my favorite song from the movie, I asked the cast what they thought was impossible back in the 90s that they know is possible now. 

“Never thought I would be a Disney princess,” Brandy shared. “Never in a thousand, million years  would I have ever thought that I would be a Disney princess — not at 16 and not at 45 Never. Never.” Before Brandy showed up on my TV in her blue ball gown and Moesha microbraids, I never would have dared to dream that someone like us could be a Disney princess either. But she gave us permission to believe in fairytales where we were adored and desired. 

For Montalban, his impossible dream came true through Descendants. “Never did I think that I was going to be reunited with Brandy playing the same parts,” he said, pausing. “But, seriously, Impossible….” and for the final line that made the child in me squeal with excitement, Brandy and Paulo delivered it in unison. “.... Impossible things are happening every day!” They both exclaimed through laughter. And finally, as if she was speaking straight to the little girl who lived in front of her TV learning to believe in the impossible, Brandy left us with this gem of wisdom: 

“Dreams really do come true,” Brandy said. “They really do, even dreams you didn't think about having. They happen for you if you believe.”