Main Cast: Julie Andrews, Christine Baranski, Jeffrey Tambor, Sofia Vassilieva, Debra Monk
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Created by author/entertainer Kay Thompson in 1955, precocious six-year-old Eloise, who lived in the Plaza Hotel with her long-suffering nanny, her dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee, was the heroine of several delightful children's books written by Thompson and whimsically illustrated by Hilary Knight. The charm of the "Eloise" books has proven elusive whenever the property is adapted for another media, as witness a disastrous musical version which aired live on Playhouse 90 in 1956. On this occasion, Eloise came off as a spoiled obstreperous brat, which was as much the fault of the child actress cast in the role (Evelyn Rudie) as the adapters. Disney decided to give little Eloise another chance 47 years later with the location-filmed Eloise at the Plaza, a two-hour movie presentation of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney anthology. This time around, Sofia Vassilieva played the title role, with Julie Andrews as Eloise's nanny (something of a full-circle for Andrews, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of a rather different nanny in the 1964 Disney theatrical feature Mary Poppins). The plot finds Eloise insisting upon attending a debutante ball at the Plaza and further conniving to have a runaway foreign prince (Denis Akiyama) -- who isn't much older than she is -- as her escort. Our heroine also mends fences between a reluctant teenage deb and the girl's pushy mother. Jeffrey Tambor is typecast as the Plaza's supercilious concierge Mr. Salomone, whose dithering efforts to keep Eloise from nosing into other people's business avail him not one bit. Hilary Knight appears in a cameo role as himself. Eloise at the Plaza first aired April 27, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Victor A. Young - Mr. Peabody; Kenneth Welsh - Sir Wilkes; Corinne Conley - Mrs. Thornton; Tannis Burnett - Miss Thompson; Julian Richings - Patrice; Kintaro Akiyama - Leon; Gavin Creel - Bill; Denis Akiyama - Prince of Kushin; Peter Keleghan - Mr. Nye; Gerry Quigley - Jerry; Tony Sciara - Marco; Sol Rosenthal - Waiter; Greg Farkas - Ruth's Date; Sam Strasfield - Linda's Date; Araxi Arslanian - Head of Housekeeping; Debra McGrath - Cornelia; George Chiang - Mr. Toyama; Cliff Saunders - Max; Hilary Knight - Himself; Donna Feore - Eloise's Mother; Colm Magner - Thomas; Jason Jones - Bartender; Rob Smith - NYPD Officer #1; Barneita Runnings - Guest; Genelle Williams - Ruth; Jessica Beitchman - Linda; Fionnuala Jamison - Guest; David Sparrow - Charlie the Doorman; Jonathan Wilson - Frederic; Sergio Di Zio - Lou; Janet Van de Graff - Beautician; Stephanie Mills - Molly Daniels; Jonas Chernick - Philip; Sheree Smith - Laundry Supervisor
Credit
Kevin Lima - Director, Denise Di Novi - Executive Producer, Patrick Meehan - Executive Producer, Christine Sacani - Producer, Thomas D. Adelman - Producer, Janet Brownell - Producer, Janet Brownell - Teleplay By, Kay Thompson - Book Author
Eloise is a fun-loving little girl with a knack for finding adventure every place she looks. While under the care of her "rawther" wonderful nanny (Julie Andrews), Eloise tries to play matchmaker to a lonely prince and wrangle an invitation to the society event of the season.
