The famous Argentinian producer
Cris Morena presented her new project
Floricienta in 2004, the show became one of her biggest international hits alongside
Rebelde Way. The title, Floricienta, is a mix of Flor (the main character, Florencia, nickname) with Cenicienta (Cinderella).
Floricienta was a modern re-telling of Cinderella and
The Sound of Music. The story was especially developed by Morena as a starring-vehicle for
Florencia Bertotti which was cherry-picked by the producer. There are a few similarities between the show and another Cinderella modern re-telling, the movie
A Cinderella Story such as the
Converse sneakers instead of the
glass slipper, but the movie and the show were in production at the same time. (
Floricienta premiered on
El Trece in March 2004, while the movie debuted in the United States in July).
Floricienta was critically acclaimed for its fun storyline, dialogue, creative editing, post-production and the charisma of the main actress,
Florencia Bertotti. It became the biggest licensing brand in Argentina in 2004 and 2005. Over 300 licensed products were available during the shows two-years run and even
Floricienta branded apples were put on market.
Floricienta started with 14 points in its first episode. The show achieved ratings of over 30 points with the death of Federico at the end of the first season, being one of the most watched Morena's hits in history. The first season was the highest-rated afternoon-slot show in
El Trece history. After the huge twist in the end of the first season, many fans of Federico did not like how the story turned out after his death and drifted away from the show. The ratings for the second season suffered because of that, but the show continued to be huge and won its time-slot. The TV show ended with Florencia's marriage in front of a huge live audience and the finale was also a hit, with 25 points.
Floricienta, like most of Morena's productions, had a huge
Broadway theatre style live musical in
Teatro Gran Rex during the Winter vacations. Demand for tickets were extremely high with some concerts selling out in less than five minutes. In 2004, to satisfy the demand, the cast played two concerts at José Amalfitani Stadium with over 80,000 people attending. In 2005, another musical was done and it was also a huge success with tickets selling out in minutes. Because of this, eight extra shows were played in
Estadio Luna Park stadium in Buenos Aires. After the show ended, the complete cast (with the exception of Fabio Di Tomaso who pulled out after disagreements with the production company) waved goodbye in front of 40,000 people at another sold-out concert at
José Amalfitani Stadium. The musical was also presented in
Rosario, Santa Fe,
La Plata and
Mar del Plata. The two
Floricienta albums were also very successful, with the first album being the third best-selling album in 2004 and the 10th best-selling album in 2005 and with the album from the second season being the biggest seller in 2005 according to
Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
Floricienta was also a huge success in most of Latin-America, where it was aired by many local channels and at the
Disney Channel. The cast made a series of successful shows all over Latin America. The show cast also made sold-out concerts in
Tel Aviv,
Israel where they performed in front of thousands of fans. Over 1 million people attended
Floricienta tour in Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Israel, Guatemala, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia among many other territories. In 2004, a Brazilian version was produced, named
Floribella. It doubled the ratings of
Rede Bandeirantes at its timeslot, over 40 products were released and the two CDs achieved platinum certifications. In 2006, a Portuguese version was also aired at
SIC and was a massive hit. The first CD was one of the most CDs sold on the Portugal's story and over 150 products were released in the country. Because of the massive success of the show, SIC bought the rights to 3 other Cris Morena shows:
Alma Pirata,
Rebelde Way and
Chiquititas (aired in 2007). A version from Chile (also called
Floribella) was also produced with great acceptance and the Mexican version (
Lola: Once Upon a Time) also did well. There was also a Colombian version, the rights were bought for Greece and Russia, among other countries. In an interview with Radio 10 in February 2009, Morena revealed
Disney Channel had bought the rights for an
American remake. ==Background==