Cinderella

FULL DISCLOSURE: I've never seen more than a few minutes of HBO's "Sex and the City. " I tried to watch, I really did - I heard it was dirty, and tuned in for the naughty bits, but the show always seemed to be about clothes, or shoes, or shopping, or relationships. For sex, I adjourned to the Ba Da Bing and "The Sopranos. " The city I preferred was the Baltimore of "The Wire. " Props to HBO, though, for delivering cable's remarkable trifecta: roughly coincidental in terms of lifespan, comparable in terms of cultural impact, starkly different in every other way. David Chase's "The Sopranos" gave us a dark critique of eroding families and morals; David Simon's "The Wire" was a grimy portrait of how neglect and indifference have destroyed great swaths of urban America.

CBS has found its Cinderella. After a long search that CBS News had dubbed "Operation Glass Slipper," ABC's Jane Clayson has been named Bryant Gumbel's co-anchor of the new Early Show, CBS sources say. It will launch Nov. 1. CBS plans to make the announcement at a star-studded New York news conference Tuesday. A CBS News spokeswoman yesterday declined comment. Clayson, 32, an L.A.-based correspondent, reports mainly for Peter Jennings' ABC World News Tonight. Clayson has covered several major stories for ABC, including Bob Dole's 1996 Presidential campaign, the 747 crash in Guam and the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

Little girls in frilly dresses packed the Academy of Music on Wednesday night for the Pennsylvania Ballet's opening night of Cinderella. I don't know what these little women made of this take on the fairy tale, but one big one's view is that here's another version that fails to overcome the weaknesses of Prokofiev's justly maligned and rather boring score. You'd think he'd write the best music for the title character, right? But no, there's more music for the stepsisters in this ballet, characters who have been danced in drag in more versions than this one. The choreography is by Ben Stevenson, the artistic director of the Houston Ballet.

Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley will offer two children's shows every Saturday beginning in July. And They Lived Happily Ever After . . . Or the True Story of Cinderella opens at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Frog Prince opens July 2 as the theater's afternoon show. The children's musical offers a new spin on the classic tale of Cinderella and her mean stepsisters and stepmother, featuring a nearsighted fairy godmother, running shoes and a plumbing wrench. The story was written by Hedgerow resident playwright Gwen Armstrong, along with Deborah DeHart and Austin Nichols.

There are role reversals aplenty in La Cenerentola, the opera Gioachino Rossini and librettist Jacopo Ferretti based more on 19th-century opera versions than on the 17th-century fairy tale we know in English as Cinderella. For a start, there's no wicked stepmother. Cinderella has a greedy stepfather. And when cindergirl, here Angelina, needs to get dolled-up for the ball, whom does she turn to but an unexpected godfather - Alidoro, aide to Prince Ramiro, who spends a lot of time pretending he's a servant.

When it comes to Philadelphia bands making it big, it started out as the Year of the Hooters, with a waxing John Eddie and a waning Robert Hazard. No one, save a hard core of 500 devotees who packed the Empire Rock Club in Northeast Philadelphia and the Galaxy nightclub in Somerdale every weekend, seemed much interested in a hard-rock quartet from the suburbs. Yet with little more than word-of-mouth and MTV airplay, Cinderella's debut album, Night Songs, not only has worked its way to the No. 13 spot on Billboard's national Top 100 album chart, but it went gold (sales of 500,000)

ROSSINI'S "LA CENERENTOLA" ("Cinderella"), presented by the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Stephen Lord conducting. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and 23, 8 p.m. Feb. 18 and 25, 2:30 p.m. Feb. 20 and 27 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Tickets:$20-135. Info: 215-893-1999. MOZART'S "COSI FAN TUTTE," presented by the Academy of Vocal Arts with Christofer Macatsoris conducting the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra. Performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16, at Helen Corning Warden Theatre, 1920 Spruce St., and at 8 p.m. Feb. 19 at Centennial Hall, Haverford School, 450 Lancaster Ave. Tickets $32, $27 for seniors and students.

Among the more intriguing stories of Week 1 at the Pan Am Games was that of swimmer Anthony Nesty, who won a gold medal for Suriname in the men's 100- meter butterfly. It was the first-ever medal for Suriname in Pan Am competition, and considering that the country has only one swimming pool, Nesty's accomplishment seemed all the more stunning. As it turned out, Nesty's background wasn't nearly as deprived as his country's. He graduated from high school in Jacksonville, Fla., where there is more than one swimming pool, and will enter the University of Florida as a freshman next month.

John Chaney says there is absolutely no chance for a letdown by his Temple Owls when they play Cinderella-like Richmond this afternoon in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Cole Field House. "The only thing I remember about Richmond is that they kicked our butt the last time we played them," said Chaney. "You can be an elephant or a rat, it doesn't matter so long as it's kicking your butt. " Most experts figured that if the Owls got past their first-round game Thursday with Purdue, their second-round opponent would be Syracuse.

OHIO IS happy to make room for anyone who wants to jump on the bandwagon. Just don't expect the Bobcats (29-7) to buy into that whole lovable underdog thing. Yes, they realize they're the 13th seed, the only "little guy" left in a tournament that now looks like a who's who of college basketball. They're well aware it would take them another century or two to match top-seeded North Carolina's tradition - they're in the regional semifinals for the second time, while the Tar Heels have lost count of how many times they've been here.

NASHVILLE - South Florida redshirt senior Ron Anderson Jr. is a bit of an aficionado of teams making unexpected runs deep into the NCAA tournament, and his personal favorite is Virginia Comonwealth's streak to the Final Four last season. Just don't ask the forward to compare his 12th-seeded Bulls with anyone else. "It's kind of been our story the whole season that we're going to have to keep on battling through adversity and create our own name," Anderson said Saturday. "If we play great ball and make it to the Final Four, you want to make the comparisons, so be it. I think right now we're just enjoying this time and we really want ... USF to have its own name, really.

After yet another victory over a favored opponent, North Penn will have the chance to play for its first girls' basketball district championship. For the third time in three games, the No. 9 Maidens knocked off a higher-seeded team - this time, No. 4 Downingtown West, 36-31, in the District 1 Class AAAA semifinals Wednesday night at Norristown - to book a date with third-seeded Spring-Ford in the district final at 7 p.m. Friday at Villanova. After beginning the season a middling 6-4, North Penn (21-5)

HOUSTON - Butler coach Brad Stevens was still in elementary school when Villanova concluded its magical run as a No. 8 seed by beating heavily favored Georgetown for the national championship in 1985. Since the NCAA began seeding the field in 1979, the Bulldogs are the third eighth seed to reach the title game. UCLA made it in 1980 but lost to Louisville. Monday's game will mark the highest combined seed ever for a championship contest, adding Butler's seed to that of No. 3 Connecticut.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, some crafty criminals hit an all-time low. Authorities in Cape May say that they've confiscated several coloring-book pages sent to inmates at the county jail, often addressed "To Daddy," with orange paint covering pictures of Snow White and Cinderella. Those hues weren't Burnt Orange or Mango Tango, though - it was Suboxone, a medication typically taken by people trying to kick heroin, painkillers or other opiates. Cape May County Sheriff Gary Schaffer said that his office received a tip from a confidential informant that drugs were being smuggled into the jail via mail.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The lead was collapsing in on VCU, the dream of a most remarkable NCAA tournament run finally flickering. Rams coach Shaka Smart had just earned a technical for charging toward an official at the Alamodome after he called a timeout on Sunday. "I didn't even say anything, but I guess I charged out there a little bit faster than I should have," said Smart, 33. "I've got to control my pace as I move toward the officials. " The second-year head coach apologized to his team and offered a blunt pep talk: "It was basically forget about the refs, forget Kansas," he said.

Through the mob of people celebrating on the court, one word was circulating loudly, never far from the lips of any Washington Township player: Believe. The 11th-seeded Minutemaids (16-13) were down by 13 points late in the third quarter to No. 1 seed Cherry Hill East (26-2) in Tuesday night's South Jersey Group 4 final. Washington Township had already dropped two games to the Cougars this season by an average of 21 points. There might not have been many like-minded fans in the packed gym at Cherry Hill East, but the Minutemaids said they simply never stopped believing.

Moorestown girls' basketball coach Chris Hill pumped her fist in the air twice as her players celebrated around her. The euphoria came moments after the Quakers upset Timber Creek, 57-52, in the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals Saturday. The win continues the 14th-seeded Quakers' improbable run in the playoffs. "Different kids have been stepping up, and I couldn't be more proud of their maturity," Hill said. The win is the seventh in the row for Moorestown (13-14), which opened the season 6-14 but hasn't lost since Feb. 14. "We're just really coming through in these games.

NEW YORK (AP) - Want to have a Cinderella moment without breaking the bank? If you've always wanted to wear a designer gown and jewelry and make people gawk, a growing number of businesses will indulge even your wildest Cinderella fantasy. You'll just be renting, but no one should be seen in the same outfit twice anyway. And you'll be wearing the designers' high-end lines so enjoy the savings. Maybe take it up a notch with a gaggle of paparazzi-for-hire. "Where luxury had been exclusive, the Internet has made it a commodity," says Dudley Blossom, chairman of the marketing department at LIM College, a fashion school in Manhattan.

EWING TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Pennsville's Cinderella soccer season ended Saturday at the College of New Jersey. With 1 minute, 41 seconds to play, New Providence freshman Casey Trezza blasted a ball high and to the left of goalkeeper Dani Cornman from about 10 yards out, and the Pioneers danced away with a 1-0 victory and the state Group 1 girls' championship. It was a crushing blow to Pennsville, which was barely a blip on the radar screen throughout the regular season. The Eagles had gotten hot at the right time, advanced to the final, and fought hard.