[ID: several photos of a book with excerpts highlighted. They reads: In 1995 Columbia Pictures and Jim Henson approached James and me with a plan to make a movie of the show, using Henson creatures as the animals. A script was written by Low- ell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and two readings were held in Los Angeles, fol- lowed shortly by one of those periodic studio shake-ups where a new platoon of executives replaces the old one, eager to throw out all projects begun before their arrival in order to demonstrate the freshness of their re- thinking. The readings, therefore, were as far as the production went. I wrote two songs for the project before the axe descended, however. (/end highlight)
The opening number would have been this:
The camera looks down onto a small, charming storybook village from centuries ago. It swoops around and finally down behind the royal palace and into the village streets.
Stop taking away our rainbow, Donât tell me itâs all in vain. Why would you expect a rainbow? I think you enjoy the pain.
You chip away long enough At every dream weâve made, Things soon will go wrong enough That more than dreams are going to fade.
Donât say they just last a minute, That rainbows are only air Donât tell me thereâs nothing in it- Weâve got to have hopes to share.
The longer we love each other, More and more it seems
Love isnât enough.
We need some dreams.
(highlight) The first reading of the movie script had, among others. Martin Short as the Baker, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Wife, Neil Patrick Harris as Jack, Mary Steenburgen as his Mother, Kathy Najimy as Florinda, Janeane Garofalo as Lucinda, Cynthia Gibb as Cinderella, Rob Lowe as her Prince, Christine Lahti as the Witch, Daryl Hannah as Rapunzel and Michael Jeter as the Giant.
The second reading was even more star-studded: Robin Williams (the Baker), Goldie Hawn (the Wife), Cher (the Witch), Carrie Fisher (Lucinda), Bebe Neuwirth (Florinda), Moira Kelly (Cinderella), Kyle MacLachlan (Cin- derellaâs Prince), Brendan Fraser (Rapunzelâs Prince), Elijah Wood (Jack). Roseanne Barr (Jackâs Mother), Danny DeVito (the Giant) and Steve Martin (the Wolf). All that and Jim Henson, too.
I wish⊠/end ID]