Caniparoli's interpretation is set in a 1950s blended family, with a lonely young woman named Nancy who loves to watch television and whose stepsisters torment her while her father is away on business. It features such '50s landmarks as an Arthur Murray Dance Studio and the Starlight Ballroom, and ends with Nancy and her prince, called Bob, settling down to watch a broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
The Royal Winnipeg has never performed a version of Prokofiev's Cinderella, and when artistic director Andr_ Lewis invited Caniparoli to choreograph a new production, his only request was that the music be by someone else. A Cinderella Story is the first full-length ballet to use Rodgers' songs.
The company's season runs through May, and includes performances of Agnes de Mille's Rodeo and a new staging of Marius Pepita's The Sleeping Beauty.