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Once Upon a Mattress Based on the fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea, Once Upon a Mattress was originally written by Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard Rodgers) and Marshall Barer as part of an adult summer camp. The original one-act version was so well received that they decided to expand it into a full-length musical. Ms. Rodgers was only then 28 when she wrote the score. Mattress opened on Broadway at the Phoenix Theater on May 11, 1959, with a young redhead named Carol Burnett playing the part of Princess Winnifred. Burnett at the time was doing television comedy variety shows, but her performance in Mattress made her a star. Mattress would go on to run for a respectable 460 performances. In November 1996 the show was revived at the Broadhurst Theater, this time starring TV/film star Sarah Jessica Parker as Winnifred. Alas, the revival did not succeed as the original production had. Critics and audiences felt Parker just did not have the comedic flare as Burnett did in the central role. Mattress closed June 1, 1997, the day of the 1997 Tony Awards. The revival ended up with only 188 performances under its belt. I'm glad to report that GCT's current production has added about a dozen coats of fresh paint on Once Upon a Mattress, yielding one of the sweetest surprises of the current musical season. I never realized this musical contained such layers of bawdiness, vaudeville, even burlesque in its score, lyrics, and book. Or that it was a comedy. All this is now realized due to director Debbie Davis, choreographer Vicki Squires, musical director James McQuillen, and a castle full of talented thespians. Director Debbie Davis appears to have been channeling Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Hal Prince, and Jerry Zaks from looking at her direction for Mattress on the GCT stage boards. She took the material and added new life, energy, spark, fizz, and fun to it. She has given performers room to create and explore in this fresh and new mounting. However, the book is still problematic. There are various subplots, only some of which are resolved by the end of the show. The score sounds much fresher and more melodic than ever, but there seem to be a few too many songs in act one and not enough in act two. A couple of songs stop the flow of the piece stone cold. But I must confess, with this company performing these numbers, you really don't mind it as much. With Davis' directing, the blocking patterns for the large cast (25 in all) never look crowded or confined, but instead gave the piece the impression of looking into a glitter filled snow globe with a castle and its medieval citizens inside. The blocking furnishes the company with purpose and reason, while the large crowd scenes have charming "picture windows" to observe and admire. The pace in the first couple of scenes is slightly sluggish and feels awkwardly slow, but then it picks up and maintains a brisk flow. However, the pace is again bruised by slow scene changes. While the moving of large set pieces is required, it unfortunately hurts the pace and energy that the company creates before the scene change. Then there's the choreography by Vicki Squires - here is where the evening goes another level higher. In some choreographed musicals, you can detect that only the big chorus numbers are thoroughly choreographed, thus leaving the duets, trios, and solos on along the wayside. This is something Squires does not believe in. She took the duets, trios, even the solos, and added choreography to each number. There is no "stand there and sing"; instead each musical number has dance, movement, business, and purpose. Even the ballads have some charming or quaint movements/dance to add gratification for the audience. As for the big numbers, such as "Opening for A Princess," "Shy," "Spanish Dance," "Opening-Act II," and the tour de force comic masterpiece, "Song of Love," all are outstanding numbers. Squires has the company in groups, clumps, and other configurations all moving with gliding ease on the small stage. It never looks crowded, but instead they all exhibit fluid and pure dance beauty. Every cast member carries out the choreography with unified skill, precision, and high energy that bounces to the back wall. Musical Director maestro James McQuillen and his small band add musical merriment and delight to carry the evening through. McQuillen is the master of conducting new musicals, so it is quite a nice touch to see him music direct a known score. It should be noted that McQuillen keeps the pace going when it would begin to slow down, moving things onward. When a performer has a moment or a comic bit within the song, McQuillen makes sure the band waits for or stays with the performer, thereby not hurting the performance or moment, but instead embellishing on it. McQuillen does this often and it makes the production that much more proficient. Theresa Clapper's castle set is both authentic and aesthetic. The multi-level medieval castle has black sconces on either side with tiny fires illuminating from within. The castle walls are colored in burnt sienna with flowery wisteria climbing them. Clapper's intimate and impressive set creates mood before a single actor graces the stage. Clapper also designed a multi-purpose wall that shifts to either side of the stage for scenes inside the castle. It's a ravishing set to admire. Mike Garner's lighting design showers Clapper's set with appropriate colors and moods. The costumes designed by Marilu Gonzales, Michael Robinson, and Bill Bullard are an abundance of rich fabrics, satins, silks, furs, sequins, jewels, and glitter, all right in period. The women's costumes have flowing veils and lush fabrics with brocade, jewels, or patterns of sequins. The men's costumes are in darker hues with billowing sleeves. These stunning costumes are topped off with absolute eye popping hats of all shapes. There are cones, double cones, and some that look like large horns. All are festooned with veils, jewels, glitter, and other eye catching finery. The ladies balanced them like seasoned Las Vegas showgirls. In supporting roles, Tom Grugle (as King Sextimus) and Amy Huber (as Queen Aggravain) are entertaining and charming as the silent king and as the mother from hell. They might have found more of the comic subtext and comic beats within their roles. Both do give the right tone to their roles and achieve the laughs, but you can see that the roles could go even much further in the comedy. Jacob Villarreal posses a convincing tenor voice that fits the music written for the Minstrel perfectly. The actor also handles the book scenes as well as his choreography with fetching skill and talent. As the Jester, Michael Moore is the first of the four surprise performances of the evening. The actor gives it his all and comes up with a crowd pleaser of a performance. Moore's comedic talents truly shine in turning this one note role into an irresistible performance. Moore never once drops character nor energy. His solo, "Very Soft Shoes" is one of the many musical highlights of the evening, with Moore dancing with high octane energy and joy. He gives a witty, charismatic performance. "The Minstrel, The Jester, and I," performed by Villarreal, Moore, and Grugle, becomes one of the show stopping numbers of the night. With Squires' choreography, this number is a double punch of hilarious dance sequences matched with the execution of the comedy by all three actors. It should also be noted that Villarreal and Moore have perfect harmonies that added even more delight in the number. The second surprise performance comes from Greg Allen as Sir Harry, the romantic hero of the evening. I had only observed Allen in minor roles (Floyd Collins, Allegro), but he is given a principal role and comes out with a laugh-provoking performance that truly gives his talents a chance to shine. The actor creates laughter from his facial expressions and has a booming, powerful baritone voice that adds an operatic and grand quality to his songs. The vibrato is colored, thus it sounds rich and full. As Allen's love interest-Lady Larken, Renee Smith is a statuesque blonde and a perfect match for Allen's Sir Harry. Smith has just the right balance of keeping Larken from becoming a one sided role, and creates a performance that has the audience sympathizing with her plight. The actress not only has a pure soprano voice, but she has mirthful comic moments as well. Smith also has great fun (along with Villarreal & Moore) with the trio comic number, "Normandy." Allen and Smith's characters are assigned practically all the romantic ballads, and both sing with lush harmonies, full vibratos, and commitment. "In A Little While" and "Yesterday I Loved You" are sung with elegant vocals that created these love songs into intimate little gems. Also providing top notch performances in the large cast are Greg Thomas as the wheezing Wizard and Megan Knapp as the pink and fuchsia bejeweled Nightingale of Samarkland. Kudos must also be handed out to the talented ensemble. They sing, dance, and act with pure excitement and fun, and this flows out into the audience. Their ensemble numbers also happen to be some of the best musical pieces of the evening. The third major surprise comes from Brendan Cyrus in the role of Prince Dauntless. With this role he bursts out of the comedy gate and succeeds hands down. Cyrus transforms Prince Dauntless as a combo platter of Disney's Goofy, Bert Lahr, Lenny (from Of Mice and Men) and Jeff Daniels' character in the film Dumb and Dumber all with a side dish of being a major momma's boy! Cryus pounds on the stage with never ending energy and commitment to the comedy, both verbal and non-verbal. He also happens to be a solid dancer, which Squires has obviously used to her advantage in creating specific dance pieces for Cyrus in the numbers "Opening for A Prince" and "Song of Love." The final and fourth surprise falls to Megan Woodall, who portrays Princess Winnifred, or as she is called back home, Fred. Ms. Woodall may have given the funniest, most hysterical female performance in a musical this year as this as an "Esther Williams" swimming princess. From her first entrance to her last, this young gal chews the scenery up, spits it out, and then re-chews again to make sure to savor each morsel. She is remiscent of a young Shirley MacLaine physically, but her performance shows a plethora of comic influences. Each time Woodall walked on stage, you can actually feel the energy level rise. Her stage presence is beyond powerful, it's hypnotic. Woodall has perfect comic timing and pace. She knows how to take the joke or comic bit a step further, thus resulting in even more laughs. She instinctively knows the comic beats, plus she seeks and finds the comic subtext and creates laughter that isn't on the written page. Her ad-libs and side remarks make the role and her performance even funnier. While some directors frown on this, in this case they fit the moment and add more to the scene. Garland Civic Theater's production of Once Upon A Mattress, running through May 19th, helps to add this show to the short list of revivals that can be done successfully. Once Upon a Mattress CAST King Sextimus..........................Tom Grugle |
