Cinderella is in a state of mourning as her mother, who has been her inspiration, dies in her arms. Her father puts the sobbing Cinderella to bed and leaves her to seek comfort in her dreams …

Ten years go by … The Lord Mayor is ready to greet his son on his return from his travels overseas and in his honour organises a series of celebrations. He invites a travelling carnival to parade the town square and requests that the local ballet school stage a performance of Swan Lake in honour of his son. A colourful carnival arrives into town and in amongst the celebrations, a Gypsy fortune teller reads the palms of various townsfolk, who appear happy with her predictions. She seems to have a remarkably disturbing effect on the town's clocks, which start to whirr and tick with surprising energy. The Watchmaker, Cinderella's father, notices something is amiss after the carnival arrives and with the help of his assistants tries unsuccessfully to put the clocks right.

Cinderella, who is also training to be a ballerina in the town's theatre, arrives in the town square and is greeted warmly by the local people who took the little girl to their hearts when her mother died and have watched her grow up into a shy, but beautiful young woman. The Gypsy fortune teller also looks on with kindly feelings towards this motherless young girl.

However, when Cinderella's stepmother and two stepsisters arrive, it is clear the townsfolk do not have the same fondness for them, and they keep well out of their way. Instead there is a great deal of sympathy among the townsfolk for the Watchmaker in his unlucky choice of a second wife. With their haughty behaviour the stepmother and her two daughters make their dislike of Cinderella plain.

At the theatre it is the final rehearsal before the evening's premier performance of the ballet, Swan Lake, in front of the Lord Mayor and his family, most notably his handsome and eligible son. The Mayor and his son arrive backstage to wish the cast good luck before the performance. Cinderella's stepmother, who is also the ballet mistress, takes great pride in introducing her two daughters but leaves Cinderella out of the introductions. However, as the dignitaries begin to leave, the Lord Mayor's son and Cinderella accidentally bump into each other. It is love at first sight.

Much to the dismay of the stepmother, one of her daughters refuses to perform after a nervous tantrum and leaves the stage in anger.

The performance of Swan Lake finally begins but has to be stopped as the second stepsister fails to complete a difficult dance manoeuvre and injures herself. Cinderella, with encouragement from the ballet company's leading male dancer, steps in and performs the part flawlessly, thereby rescuing the performance and unwittingly securing the attention of the Mayor's son.

Smitten, at the end of the ballet he goes backstage in search of Cinderella only to be hijacked by the attentions of stepmother and daughters. The Watchmaker inadvertently diverts Cinderella from him and whisks her away before she is able to meet him.

Later that night, both the Mayor's son and Cinderella wander dreamily into the town square. Though unaware of each other, they dance as if they were one.

To further mark his son's return home and also in recognition of the wonderful success of the Swan Lake performance, the Lord Mayor decides to hold a masked ball in celebration. It is all hustle and bustle in the town square as the invitations are handed out and the excitement mounts. The stepsisters are so busy fussing over themselves they miss out on the invitations but Cinderella receives hers. Once again the clocks start whirring and ticking erratically – the Gypsy is present.

Cinderella's stepmother arrives and sees that everyone has an invitation to the Ball except herself and her daughters. She notices Cinderella talking excitedly with the Dressmaker about the Ball and sets out to remedy the situation by stealing Cinderella's invitation. Gleefully, she and her daughters set off, invitation in hand, leaving the downhearted Cinderella behind.

The Gypsy Fortune Teller mysteriously arrives and shows Cinderella a vision of how her evening could be, and tells her that her dreams of attending the Ball could come true … but she must heed a warning – she must leave before the clock strikes 12. To illustrate her warning “Thirteen o'clock” performs a dramatic dance.

ACT TWO

As a reminder of the Gypsy's warning we see the town's clocks in a display of frenetic activity.

The Lord Mayor's son is alone in the theatre foyer where the Ball is about to commence. He eagerly awaits the arrival of the guests in the anxious hope that Cinderella will appear. His father soothes his concerns and reassures him that all will be well. The townsfolk begin to arrive and the merry dancing starts.

Suddenly two mystery guests arrive and soon beguile the other guests. The stepsisters make their grand entrance to the Ball, hoping to snare the Lord Mayor's son but he is unimpressed. Cinderella, in disguise, begins to dance, at first mocking her stepsisters as she dances with them, and then performs an entrancing solo. The Mayor's son recognises her from her graceful dancing style.

The Watchmaker also recognises his daughter and tries to persuade her to leave the Ball as he feels uneasy about her friendly relationship with the Gypsy. The Gypsy protests her innocence. Cinderella pleads with her father to allow her to stay and he reluctantly agrees.

Cinderella and the Mayor's son finally get to dance together, only to be interrupted by the stepmother and her daughters, but he clearly only has eyes for Cinderella. So preoccupied are the happy couple as they dance, that time flies by and the evening draws to a close. Suddenly the clock comes to life, striking 13. Cinderella is thrown into a panic, remembering the Gypsy's warning and in her haste to depart amidst the ensuing chaos; she mysteriously disappears, leaving behind just her boot.

The following day, the Mayor's son sits disconsolately in the town square, watching other happy couples but the Lord Mayor and Dressmaker have devised
a plan that they hope will solve his plight. They embark on a search for the owner of the lost shoe. As word gets around, a steady stream of townsfolk queues for the opportunity to present their daughter for a fitting of the shoe. The stepsisters arrive and eagerly push their way to the front of the queue, but the shoe does not fit either of them. The Lord Mayor's son is dejected.

The Watchmaker, in a final attempt to repair the clocks and unravel the mystery of his lost daughter, stirs the clocks into a whirring frenzy as he finally gets them to work correctly and tick in a clockwise motion. As he finishes his work, he releases his daughter and Cinderella steps forward – and the shoe fits perfectly. The lovesick couple are reunited and true love triumphs.

The Carnival leaves town and the joyous townsfolk return to their homes leaving the Mayor's son and Cinderella to dance alone in the square.

Joint Compositional Work

In 1993 Tim recorded a specially commissioned score for a new production of Phantom of the Opera. Unlike Lloyd-Webber's production, this was to be on ice and interpreted by ice skaters, influenced by contemporary dance, ballet, mime and circus - performed in the intimacy and comfort of a theatre. From then on Tim has worked with the Creative Director of this genre, Tony Mercer on all his subsequent productions, and together with Edward has written original scores for Peter Pan on Ice, Barnum on Ice and the latest world-wide hit, Cinderella on Ice. Playing to sell out audiences around the world, their music has received critical acclaim. Cinderella played a short season at the Royal Albert Hall, London in spring 2010 with, for the first time, all performances featuring a live orchestra under the baton of Tim and featuring Edward on piano.

OVERTURE
Opening scene depicting the moment Cinderella's mother dies in her arms. Cinderella is then lead away to grieve by her father, the town's Watchmaker.

THE GYPSY
Ten years have passed and the Mayor has invited a Carnival to town to help celebrate the return of his son from his travels. A mysterious Gypsy tells people's fortunes. She is drawn to Cinderella but her father takes Cinderella away. The Gypsy indicates she can control the Town Hall Clocks, much to the amusement of the Watchmaker.

THE WATCHMAKER
Concerned about the recent erratic nature of the Town Hall Clock, he becomes aware of the rapid passing of time.

CINDERELLA'S DESPAIR
Left all alone by her father and stepmother, whilst everyone else is busy preparing for the Masked Ball.

A MOTHER AND TWO DAUGHTERS
Making their way through the town, they push and shove people out of the way. They are despised by the majority of the townsfolk.

A WALK IN THE TOWN SQUARE
Cinderella leaves the home to walk through the town, all the town's folk are her friends and she is loved by all.

WHO WAS THAT GIRL
The mayor's son, having just seen Cinderella performing in the ballet, wants to invite her to his father's Masked Ball, but who was she?

FIND A DRESS
The Stepmother and her two daughters try on all the shop's dresses hoping to find the one that is just right.

THE CARRIAGE
The Gypsy creates the Carriage for Cinderella to travel to the Ball. Waving her off, the Gypsy reminds her of the importance of time.

RECEPTION
The guests start to arrive at the Masked Ball and the dancing begins.

THE MASKED WALTZ
All the guests don their masks for the traditional dance, lead by the Mayor and his wife.

CINDERELLA'S ARRIVAL (AT THE BALL)
Who is the beautiful girl? She beguiles and intrigues the mayor's son, dancing and gliding around the floor.

CENTRE OF ATTACTION
The stepmother and two daughters are jealous by all the fuss bestowed on the ‘late arrival', repeatedly interrupting dances with the mayor's son, only to finally lose him to Cinderella.

DANCE MADNESS
As the assembled guests continue to dance, it suddenly becomes apparent that the clock is about to strike 13. The Watchmaker is beside himself with worry.

WHERE DO I FIND HER
All the guests have left, leaving only the mayor's son. He fails to find the mystery girl he had danced with. All that is left is a memory, and one of her shoes.

LET THE BOYS DANCE
The mayor's son contemplates a search for the girl who will fit the shoe, his friends rally support and dance a jig together in the town square.

THE SHOE FITS
The shoe is passed around for all to try, the last person is Cinderella. The shoe fits…. perfectly.

DUET OF LOVE
As the Carnival leaves town, Cinderella and the mayor's son dance until well after midnight This time the clock's equilibrium has been restored to the correct time.

Director's Note
When my producing partner, James Cundall, suggested that we look at Cinderella as the next production for the Imperial Ice Stars, I felt a degree of trepidation course through my body. I had worked on a production of Cinderella on Ice in the early nineties alongside Tatiana Tarasova, and whilst growing to love the Prokofiev score, both Tatiana and myself found that ice dance didn't sit so well with the musical score. Its rhythms were perfectly suited to ballet as opposed to the flow that blades require. The use of Prokofiev's music for our production did cause me some concern, but I felt that maybe I was ready for this particular challenge some 15 years after the first attempts and we applied to Prokofiev's estate for permission to use the score. At the same time as this was taking place, my good friend, Tim Duncan, with whom I have worked on numerous ice productions, invited me to listen to a new score that he was writing for ice dance, based around a ‘fairytale' theme, which I found absolutely stunning. We discussed its potential use for a future production in some four years' time.

Within a few days, that meeting with Tim bounced around in my mind as I received a call to tell me that our request for use of the Prokofiev score had been refused as they felt that ice dance was not suitable for the score.

I floated the idea with James that we should actually commission Tim to write the full score for Cinderella based on the music I had heard and James, after
listening to a few pieces of the score himself, agreed that it would suit the production perfectly. So purely due to chance, I now felt a new enthusiasm for the forthcoming production and was delighted to have the opportunity to work with a brand new score written just for ice dance.

Tim and I then had numerous meetings to discuss the musical score as we set about creating a musical storyboard that could bring to life my wishes for the production and how I saw the story unfolding on the stage.

Our telling of Cinderella holds a central theme of Time and I had a desire for this to be represented in a fairly powerful and contemporary musical style. Tim's writing of these musical themes became pivotal to the story and as you will see when you watch the production, give the performance a very new theatrical edge. The rehearsal period undertaken by myself, The Imperial Ice Stars' performance creative team and The Imperial Ice Stars' skaters, took place over a seven week period at the Khadinka Ice Rink in Moscow. For up to nine hours a day, and on a seven-dayweek basis (alternating rest days for soloists and ensemble) the story slowly unfolded as each piece of choreography was set.
Tony Mercer