Cinderella

A play adapted by Suzanne M. Saunders, Wendy G. Dinkins, and Tammy A. Dinkins.

Cast Of Characters:

Scene 1

(It's morning in the Holtzinger living room. All characters in this scene wear bathrobes. Mrs. Holtzinger wanders in, looking really horrible.)

SM: (pauses, looks around) CINDERELLA!!

C: (from offstage) Yes, Stepmother?

SM: Get up-off your lazy behind and come fix breakfast! And bring me my makeup while you're at it!

C: Yes, Stepmother. (Stepmother sits down. Edna enters and also sits down.)

SM: Morning.

SS#1: Morning, Momma (Cinderella enters, carrying a tray with breakfast for one on it.)

SM: Bring some breakfast for your sister, you lazy brat! (Cinderella puts the tray down in front of Stepmother and hurries off, looking harried and without answering.) And I thought I told you to bring me my makeup! (To Edna.) That girl. (Brunhilda enters.)

SS#2: Morning, Momma, Edna. Is Cinderella getting breakfast yet? (sits down next to her sister.)

SS#1: She ought to be, but she's probably lazing azound in the kitchen instead of working, like always. (Cinderella enters, carrying a large plastic "Caboodles"-type box)

C: Here's your makeup, Stepmother. (Turns to sisters.) And your breakfasts will be ready in just a minute. (Exits.)

SS#1: Have you heard about the big ball the King is throwing to find Prince Charming a wife? Everyone who is anyone will be there!

SS#2: Can we go, Momma, please, can we?

SM: Of course the Holtzinger family will go to the prince's ball, and the name of the wife the prince finds there will be Grizelda Holtzinger!

SS#1: No, Edna Holtzinger!

SS#2: Brunhilda Holtzinger!

C: (who entered during SM's speech and has been standing in the doorway with the breakfast tray) May I go too?

SS#1: You? (snorts derisively.)

SM: (Laughing.) Of course you may go, Cinderella, IF you finish all your chores, and IF you help your sisters get ready, and IF you can find sane decent clothes to wear instead of those rags! (Cinderella sighs, puts the tray down in front of the sisters and leaves.)

SS#1: The prince will be dazzled by my exquisite beauty!

SS#2 No, he'll be bewitched by my gorgeous body!

SM: Don't be silly; the prince is well known for his like of older, more mature women like me!

SS's: (simultaneously) Ha! (Curtain.)

Scene 2

(SM & SS's are in their best dresses and too much makeup, badly applied. Cinderella in the same rags as before.)

SM: (happily) Bye, Cinderella, and don't forget to sweep the hearth! (SS's laugh. All but C. exit. C starts to sweep the floor, suddenly drops the broom and buries her face in her hands.)

C: I wish I could go to the ball! (Scraping noises from offstage. Then enter Fairy Godmother, in ballet costume and walking on toe, arms gracefully above head, until she trips.)

FM: Sh-! (Cinderella looks up.) What was that you just said?

C: Who are you?!

FG: I'm your fairy godmother, girl, who do I look like, Madonna? Now, what was that I heard you say?

C: Just that I wanted to go to the ball.

FG: Is that all? I can manage that. 

By all the powers of love and hate,
Change these rags into something great!
(Puff of smoke. Cinderella appears wearing a beautiful dress but still barefoot.)

FG: Goodbye, have a good time.

C: But I can't go to the ball barefoot!

FG: Oh, yeah. Um, Slippers glass and clear, Summon them here! (transparent glass slippers appear on floor in front of Cinderella, who steps into them.) And I suppose you'll need a way to get to the ball too, huh? What's alive around here that I can transform into a horse? (Knock at the door. Cinderella opens it and a man (Leroy) barges in.)

L: Hey, man, where's the party?

FG: Wrong house, Leroy! But you'll do fine. (Walks over and around him.) Abracadabra and hair of Samuel Horse, Bats' wings and spiders: now you're a horse! (Horse costume falls from above onto Leroy, who drops to his hands and knees.) 0h, and before I forget, the clothes and Leroy will transform back to the original at (checks watch) midnight. So leave before then or you'll be wearing rags in the ballroom with only Leroy to ride home. The shoes will stay, because I just brought them here from the store.

C: OK, I'll remember. Thank you so much! (She mounts and rides off sidesaddle on the Leroy-horse. Curtain.)

Scene 3

(SS#1 is dancing with the Prince who looks bored. SM & SS#2 are watching them, along with every other guest at the ball. Cinderella enters and pauses at 'the door. The Prince notices her and tries to get away from his current partner.)

P: Excuse me, please. (SS Won't let go of him) I said, excuse me! (Struggles.) Let go of me! (Escapes and walks over to C., straightening his clothes and regaining his dignity.) May I have this dance?

C. (shyly) Why, certainly. (They dance. The Prince is not a very good dancer but C. keeps up with him well. The deserted SS's and SM whisper and point from across the stage. Occasional whispers are heard.)

Gossipers: slut...that scandalous DRESS! far too much makeup...goldigger...hairstyle went out 20 years ago! (Curtain drops for a second to show passage of time. Raised and spotlight on C. & P. who are slow dancing. Clock starts striking midnight.)

C: Oh! Excuse me, I have to go. (Breaks away.)

P: Wait! It's not late yet. Don't go! I don't even know your name!

C: (tripping, losing a slipper.) Sh- (Catches herself, runs out of room. P. slows to pick up the slipper, chases her out of the room, then returns, looking wistfully at the slipper. Curtain.)

Scene 4

(Cinderella is at home, cleaning the hearth in her rags but humming cheerfully. SS#2 walks in.)

C: So how was the ball?

SS#2: Don't even talk to me about that man! He invited all of us there and spent the evening dancing with some slut nobody'd ever heard of and then they both went away and never came back! I wouldn't have thought it of the Prince although nothing would be past that type of woman! (Recovers herself.) Momma and Edna don't feel like getting out of.bed. They'll want breakfast up there. I'll eat down here.

C: Certainly. (Moves off, still humming happily.)

SS#2: (After her) And stop that noise! (sits down opens newspaper. Reads. A smile opens on her face.) Well, whaddya know! (Cinderella walks back in with a breakfast tray. SS looks up.) You know what? The Prince saw someone at the ball last night, but never got her name. So he's coming around to every house in the kingdom with a female in it to find her! And I bet he will find her, right here!

C:(smiling) Maybe he will. (Curtain.)

Scene 5

(Several days later, outside the Holtzingers'. Enter Herald.) H: Announcing, His Royal Highness, heir to the throne, Prince Charming! (Prince enters, looking tired. Clothes are mussed, and there are circles under his eyes. At the same time on the other side of the stage, the SS's and SM enter, dressed in their best and trying to look appealing. The Prince wearily pulls the glass slipper from a pouch.)

SS#1: Ooh! He's here!

P: Ladies, to test the identity of the one I seek, I must ask each of you to try on this shoe.

SM: All of us will be delighted to try it on, Your Highness. (Raises voice.) Cinderella, bring a chair out here! (Cinderella struggles to push a fancy, heavy armchair outside. The herald helps her after a moment. The Prince sees Cinderella and his eyes widen, but lie says nothing. SM sits in the chair as soon as it is in place.) Your Highness, IF you would...

P: (back to reality) Oh! Yeah, sure. (Takes slipper in both hands and attempts to wiggle it onto SM's obviously-too-big outstretched foot. Only about two toes fit in but she's trying to wiggle it in even after the Prince has decided that it's hopeless and is trying to remove it.) Ma'am, please, it doesn't fit, we need to try it on the other ladies--Excuse me! (yanks shoe off. SM tries to hold on to his hand.)

SM: It would fit normally, but my feet have swollen from, all the dancing I did with Your Majesty at the ball! (SS#1 yanks her mother out of the chair and sits down in it while the herald saves SM from falling.)

SS#1: It's my turn! (Prince tries to fit the slipper onto her foot; the width is fine but the foot is too long. SS#1 arches her foot Painfully in a futile attempt to get her heel into the back of the shoe. She tries to pull it on with her hands as the Prince tries to pry her hands off, finally succeeding.)

SS#1: Hmmph! (flounces away in a huff.)

SS#2, sitting down in the chair: Your Majesty, I just have to say that I have been admiring you from afar a long time. I know a girl shouldn't be this forward, but I had to let you know that I am in love with you.

Prince: Huh? (She shrugs and offers her foot to him. Her foot looks as if it night fit but the shoe is still too small. She takes it fairly calmly, it seems, until she gets up and we see her clenched fists which have been buried in her skirt.)

SM: Well, that's everybody!

Herald: What about this lady?

SM: Her? Cinderella? She's no-lady!

Prince: Nevertheless, she will have her chance. (He guides Cinderella into the chair, smiling at her. He tries the shoe on.) It fits!

Fairy Godmother, appearing: And she has the other one in her bedroom! This is your bride, Prince Charming--Cinderella! (waving wand at Cinderella, whose rags change back into her ball gown in a puff of smoke. Prince takes Cinderella in his arms and kisses her.)

SS#1: I think I'm gonna be sick! (Runs offstage. Leroy wanders on from the other direction.)

Leroy: Hey man, where's the party?

FG: Right here, Leroy! (waves wand. Music from nowhere. Leroy grabs SS#2 and starts dancing with her, the Prince and Cinderella follow suit, and the FG and Herald. SM looks disgusted. Curtain.)

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