Floricienta


Floricienta is an Argentine children's musical soap opera based on the Cinderella story. It originally aired between 2004 and 2005 on Canal 13 and has since been broadcast in more than 40 countries in Latin America, Israel, and various parts of Europe, becoming an international phenomenon for children and teenagers around the world. International networks that have broadcast Floricienta include Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and Jetix. It was also available on Sky UK's satellite programming.
The lead roles were portrayed by two-time Martín Fierro-Award-winning actress Florencia Bertotti, Juan Gil Navarro, Isabel Macedo, Fabio Di Tomaso and Benjamín Rojas. The show was created by Cris Morena and was produced by Cris Morena Group in association with RGB Entertainment.
The series became a ratings phenomenon in Argentina, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
Floricienta quickly became a commercial success, positioning its discography among the top charts in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, and Israel, among others. The franchise also generated more than 200 licensed products and hosted several musical tours attended by more than one million viewers in Argentina, Latin America, and Israel. These included more than 100 concerts at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, ten concerts at the Luna Park Stadium, and four at the José Amalfitani Stadium, all within the City of Buenos Aires.
The format was sold to five countries and was eventually adapted by Bandeirantes in Brazil, SIC in Portugal, TVN in Chile, RCN Televisión in Colombia, and Televisa in Mexico. In an interview with Radio 10, Cris Morena announced the sale of Latin American rights to Disney Channel.

Overview

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 with Cenicienta. 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 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 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.
A version from Chile was also produced with great acceptance and the Mexican version 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

Floricienta is loosely adapted from the story of Cinderella and also presents some comparisons to the film The Sound of Music. The plot revolves around Florencia, a poor dreamer. She is also a rash, vivacious, cheerful and happy Italian Argentine girl whose life changes when she meets Federico Fritzenwalden, the older son of a very rich German Argentine family whose parents died in an accident. Federico is the older brother and head of the family and has 5 younger siblings living under his responsibility in a big house with him. Fede has a bitter, cold, strict, rigid and lonely personality until he falls in love with Flor. But Fede has a girlfriend, Delfina, who wants Federico's money. Federico's brothers hate Delfina, but when Flor comes to the Fritzenwaldens' residence, hired by Fede as the nanny, everybody loves her.
Floricienta was influenced by the original Cinderella story in many ways:
  • Fede is referred to as "Flor's Prince Charming."
  • Flor's trademark is her shoes.
  • Flor is helped by her godmother, Titina, throughout the series.
  • One plot twist is that the villain, Malala, is revealed to be Flor's stepmother, making her rival, Delfina, her half-sister, and Sofía her other half-sister.
  • Flor claims to see fairies throughout the series.
  • The fact that Flor is a maid, who marries into wealth and nobility.
At the end of the first season, the show has a big twist.
Federico, after realizing that his fiancée Delfina was lying to him all the time, leaves her at the church during their wedding and goes to Flor. He then dies in an accident while saving Máximo Calderón de la Hoya, who then body swap to Federico's soul. In the second season, Flor falls in love with Máximo and they get married in the end. They have three children and a very strong love that came from the part of Fede inside Max.

Plot

Season 1

Florencia Fazzarino is an orphan girl who tries to survive and works in a grocery store, dedicating her free time to her friends in a music band. When the singer leaves, Florencia takes her place in the group and they get a performance at the party organized by the brothers Nicolás and Maia Fritzenwalden at her mansion. It is there where her destiny will forever be linked to that of this family.
For his part, Federico Fritzenwalden, the eldest brother of the family, has to return from Germany, where he works, to take charge, in addition to the family business, of his five siblings who have been orphaned of their father and mother. His arrival coincides with the party that her brothers have organized without her consent and it is there where he meets Florencia in the foam and without being able to recognize her. Soon clashes will begin between Federico, of a strict German upbringing, serious and responsible, with his little brothers. And after the escape of her youngest, Tomás, who takes refuge in Florencia's house, there will be a series of misunderstandings that will end up taking Florencia to the mansion to work as a nanny. That is where he will win the affection of everyone: children, young people, service personnel, family friends and the love of Federico, but he will also have against Malala and her daughter Delfina, godmother and girlfriend respectively of Federico, who will settle in the house and make life impossible for Florencia, hiding an important secret from her: Florencia is not really the daughter of Fazzarino, but of Alberto Santillán, Malala's dead husband and father of Delfina and her sister Sofía. As time goes by, she learns her true identity, but Delfina pretends to have never known it and Malala makes several excuses, to prevent her from claiming her inheritance and them from losing part of her inheritance. Florencia falls madly in love with Federico. Upon being reciprocated by him, they begin a very beautiful and secret love, which becomes impossible when the evil Delfina makes Federico believe that she is pregnant, and then dying due to a very serious illness, under a lie endorsed by a former teammate. Federico's school, the gynecologist Claudio Bonilla, and by Delfina's real husband, Lorenzo Mónaco, who pretends to be a Chinese doctor so that they believe that Delfina is sick.
Florencia convinces Federico to marry Delfina so that he can live as happily as possible before his death. They get married in a civil ceremony, but at the altar, Federico, who had previously discovered all of Delfina's lies, humiliates her in front of everyone by refusing to marry her, calling her a "twisted evil witch" and announcing that he loves Flor. They plan to go on a trip together but their love takes a tragic turn after Federico's heroic death in an accident in which he intervened to save the life of Count Máximo Augusto Calderón de la Hoya. In any case, Federico will have a brief time inside Máximo's body, to say goodbye to his great, unique and painful love, and to leave his brothers in charge of the Count, instead of Delfina. Thus the season ends with the meeting in the foam of Florence and the Count, just as it happened when she and Federico met. Finally this happens when Federico leaves Máximo's body to go permanently to heaven.