A new setting of an old story
Words and music by Spike Hughes
Prologue sung by Appleton Moore
Characters
Epilogue sung by Appleton Moore
The BBC Theatre Orchestra and BBC Revue Chorus conducted by the Composer
Production by Douglas Moodie

Three Sisters (or Brothers), of whom the two elder are ugly or malicious or unpleasant in some other way (and failures into the bargain), while the youngest is charming and everything a heroine (or hero) ought to be and succeeds brilliantly with or without magical assistance: that is one of the oldest folk-tale formulas in the world. It figures more or less prominently in the folklore of practically every nation.

On what original, if any, that industrious seventeenth-century Frenchman, Charles Perrault, based his charming version of the formula that we know as 'Cinderella', it is difficult to say. But it is Perrault's version that now holds the field and it is Perrault's version, unspoiled by the pantomime-mongers, but filtered through the minds (a) of Spike Hughes's six-year-old daughter, (b) of Spike Hughes himself, that provides the inspiration for this evening's entertainment.

('Cinderella' will be repeated tomorrow at 9.15 in the Regional programme)