Once upon a time there was a singing Cinderella with a beautiful voice. She lived with a Crooked Foster mother, her two sisters Hennie and Minnie who ordered her around and hated to hear her sing. On the other side of the swamp there was a Queen Mother Rhythm and a Prince of Music who led the Great Gospel Choir. In this classic story told with a melodic twist the singing Cinderella may or may not have a happy ending....
Now Crooked Foster Mother was so evil that even the sun was scared to rise when she was outside And as the years passed, Hennie and Minnie grew to be just as mean as their mama. The three of them made Cinderella do all the work around that old ramshackle cottage. They made her do the cleanin, the sewing, and the cooking. Every day Cinderella had to make ten sweet potato pies and ten pots of collard greens, which Crooked Foster Mother and the twins ate all up. They never left anything Cinderella anything but the pot liquor from the greens.
Meanwhile, back on the other side of the swamp, Queen Mother Rhythm decided it was time to find a new lead singer for the Great Gospel Choir. "I'm ready to retire", she told her piano-playing Prince of Music.
I'll find somebody to take your place, Queen Mother Rhythm," said the handsome Prince.
And the Prince of Music had his Royal runners run up and down the swamp, sticking flyers on trees and hanging them on bushes. They ran to the east. They ran to the west. They ran to the north. They ran to the south.
It was just about then that Cinderella got up enough nerve to sing. She started from way in the back of the audience and sang her way to the front. The Prince followed her song on the piano, loving every note of her gospel voice.
Cinderella's sound was so gentle and bold that people hushed and stood up and craned their necks to see the girl who enchanted them with a voice as sweet as licorice.
Tears of joy rolled down Queen Mother Rhythm's cheeks as she listened to the beautiful voice sing the words she knew so well. She looked at the Prince of Music and nodded her head yes.
Never missing a beat, the Prince gazed deep into Cinderella's eyes, and Cinderella felt her heart begin to soar along with the notes she was singing. The minute Cinderella finished her heavenly tune, the whole crowd went crazy, clapping and cheering.
But before Crooked Foster Mother and the twins could recognize her, Cinderella turned around and fled. She ran back through the swamp, back past the quicksand, where she left the belt of vines, back past the crocodiles, where she left the wildflowers, and back into the ramshackle cottage.
"We heard her, but we lost her", said the Prince to Queen Mother Rhythm back at the convention. "Now we must find her."