relief. Alexander accepted the role despite being paid significantly less than his Seinfeld salary because, in addition to hoping to earn Zadan and Meron's favor for the title role in a potential film adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), he hoped that Cinderella would positively impact the future of television musicals. Describing the project as both a major opportunity and responsibility, Alexander acknowledged that Cinderella's failure to succeed could potentially jeopardize the future of musical films altogether. Furthermore, Alexander insisted that Lionel be different from his Seinfeld character George Costanza, despite Freedman originally writing several in-jokes that alluded to Alexander's most famous role, prompting him to revise several of the actor's scenes accordingly. Whoopi Goldberg accepted the role of Queen Constantina because Cinderella reminded her of a period when television specials were "major event[s]" before home video made such programs available and re-watchable at virtually any time, and hoped that the film would re-introduce the tradition of watching it live and "become part of the fabric of our lives again." Goldberg found the film's colorful cast to be reflective of "who we are", describing it as "more normal" than all-Black or all-white casts. Victor Garber, who was cast as King Maximillian, also enjoyed the film's multicultural cast, describing the fact that his character has an Asian son with an African-American queen as "extraordinary". The actor concluded "There's no reason why this can't be the norm." Casting the prince was significantly more time consuming, with Chase likening the process to searching for the owner of Cinderella's glass slipper. Auditions were held in both Los Angeles and New York. Several well-known actors auditioned for the role, including Wayne Brady, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Marc Anthony and Taye Diggs, the latter of whom was highly anticipated due to his starring role in the musical Rent at the time. The final actor to audition for the film, Paolo Montalban was ultimately cast as Prince Christopher in his film debut; Montalban had been an understudy in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I at the time. Despite being late for the final day of auditions, Montalban impressed the producers with his singing voice. Montalban enjoyed this version of the prince character because "he isn't just holding out for a pretty girl ... he's looking for someone who will complete him as a person, and he finds all of