Cinderella Story

Prologue

There was once a young woman who was forced to live in the kitchen of a great house and to wait on her stepmother and stepsisters night and day. Her only bed was the fireplace, her only clothes, rags, and because of this she became known as Cinderella.

Act I

Cinderella’s mother had died long ago. Her father had then married a cruel woman who already had two daughters of her own, and who bore the orphaned girl no love. Since the death of her father, however, Cinderella’s miserable life has become even bleaker. The family has little money and Cinderella has to scrimp and save, scrub and scour to serve her step-family. Her only possession is a pair of beautiful dancing slippers that once belonged to her mother and which she keeps hidden in a box under a cupboard, away from jealous and malicious eyes.

When it is announced that there is to be a Ball, at which the Prince will choose his future queen, the house turns into a hive of activity, with dressmakers, hairdressers and a dancing master all attempting to turn the two stepsisters into the belles of the Ball.

In the cheerless gloom of the cellar, Cinderella discovers a poor old woman wearing rags, shoeless and shivering with cold, who has crept into the kitchen seeking warmth. Moved to compassion, Cinderella gives her what little she has, including her mother’s dancing shoes to warm her feet.

The stepsisters set off for the palace, leaving Cinderella dreaming of the Ball. She is startled by the reappearance of the old beggar woman, who transforms herself into a vision of warmth, beauty and maternal love. It is the fairy spirit of Cinderella’s mother and she promises her daughter that, in time, she will find love and happiness. To that end she conjures up the Seasons who dress Cinderella beautifully and provide her with a magnificent coach and liveried servants to whisk her off to the Ball.

Act II

At the palace the Ball is in full swing. There are many beautiful women present, though none has yet captured the Prince’s heart. When Cinderella is announced, however, he is immediately enraptured and they dance together for the rest of the evening.

As the clock strikes midnight, this magical world begins to disintegrate. Cinderella’s clothes return to rags, her liveried servants to rodents and reptiles and her sparkling coach to a pumpkin. As she flees the palace, she inadvertently leaves behind one of her jewelled slippers.

Act III

It is the next day, and the Prince is sitting surrounded by piles of shoes discarded by women, young and old, who have arrived to persuade him that they are the one whose foot will fit the dancing slipper left behind by the mysterious Princess when she fled the night before. The stepsisters try to force their feet into the slipper, but with no luck. The Prince is in despair, when finally Cinderella finds the courage to present her foot. The slipper fits! Reunited, the Prince and Cinderella declare their love.

DAVID BINTLEY