Nickelodeon‘s Rags is a Cinderella story with a gender swap — Cinderella is a fella!  Called a “contemporary spin to a classic story” with a “hip-hop flare” by the network, Rags stars How To Rock‘s Max Schneider, Keke Palmer, Drake Bell, Victorious star Avan Jogia, and Nick Cannon.

Set in New York City, Schneider stars as Charlie Prince, an aspiring singer who lives with his evil stepfather and stepbrothers.  Kadee Worth, played by Palmer, is an international pop star who is tired of pretending to be someone she is not to make others happy.  Despite many obstacles that get in their way, the two “each finally get what they have been looking for – a voice, a stage, an audience and each other.”

Along with appearing in the film, Nick Cannon serves as the Executive Producer.  According to Marjorie Cohn,  Nickelodeon’s president of development and original programming, Cannon was the one who brought the project to Nickelodeon.  Rags was “inspired by [Cannon’s] own reverence for The Wiz, one of his favorite movies growing up.”

While the film features some of Nickelodeon’s biggest stars, the “Cinderella-story-with-a-music-twist” seems to be a little too overdone.  We’ve already got the Cinderella Story sequels that starred Selena Gomez and Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale.  Both movies follow the story line of an aspiring dancer/singer who meets and falls in love with a famous dancer/singer at – yep, you guessed it – a masquerade ball, and ends up happily ever after.

So what makes Rags stand out against films like the Cinderella Story sequels?  The only big difference between Rags and these movies at first glance seems to be the gender reversal of the role of Cinderella.  Looking closer though, Rags could end up being a stand-out Cinderella reboot with its all-star crew behind the scenes.  The film, directed by Billy Woodruff, features original music by Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and choreography by Rosero McCoy.  Those names should sound familiar.  McCoy is best known for his work on America’s Next Best Dance Crew and even choreographed for several Disney Channel movies and television shows.  On the music front, Jerkins has had a hand in producing some top-charting songs, like Brandy and Monica‘s “The Boy Is Mine” and Beyonce‘s “Deja Vu.”  He has worked with the likes of stars including the late Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, LMFAO, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber.  With credits like that, the music in Rags should be incredible.

Rags is scheduled to premiere on Nickelodeon in May 2012.

Check out the trailer for the new TV movie after the jump!

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