Once upon a mattress in a high school far away…LHS presents, Once Upon A Mattress.
If you thought you knew the story of “The Princess and The Pea,” you may be in for a walloping surprise,” teacher Michael Turpin said. “Did you know, for instance, that Princess Winnifred actually swam the moat to reach Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that Lady Larken’s love for Sir Harry provided a rather compelling reason? Or that, in fact, it wasn’t the pea at all that caused the princess a sleepless night?”
“Carried by a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship and comeuppance provides for some side-splitting shenanigans,” Turpin said. “Chances are you’ll never look at fairy tales quite the same way again.”
The cast, crew, and directors of Once Upon A Mattress put in many hours of hard work and dedication for this production.
“We chose this show so that we could have a unique set and we also knew that we had a lot of costumes in stock,” choir teacher Phillip Holthus said. “It was also time to do a classic show. We have been doing Disney for a few years so we wanted something older that requires different acting skills and different vocal techniques. The musicals of today require more of a rock/belted tone quality and we wanted to go back to a more traditional style of singing.”
Not only are the directors of this show very important, the devotion and unity between cast members is a huge part of making the show work. Junior Trevor Harr plays Prince Dauntless.
“My favorite part about the show is that this year we are together as a family, and the cast is just great this year too,” Harr said. “The key to putting on a good show is the connection you have with other characters, and how well you get along with people backstage and onstage.”
Junior Mary Muir, who plays Lady Anna-Lynn, and junior Alana Pendergraft who plays Emily have many pre-show rituals, and funny moments from rehearsal.
“I think it’s more comical than any shows we’ve done in the past. I think that will be fun and make for more audience appeal,” Pendergraft said. Many people seem to be enjoying the mood and atmosphere this show has.
“I love the cast and crew. I like the atmosphere that this show is giving off,” Muir said.
Pre-show rituals are a way of preparing for scenes on stage, or just a way to calm nerves before the curtains raise.
“We always do “energy” as a group and that’s just something that we always do before the shows as a group,” Pendergraft said. Sometimes, pre-show rituals can be personal, and not so much a group activity.
“I pop my back and my neck backstage and then I count down from ten before I’m about to go on, it calms my nerves,” Muir said.
Rehearsals in the Little Theatre start at 3:15 and usually do not have a set time of when they end. They can be long and tiring, but they create many memories and funny moments that will always be remembered.
“It’s not really funny, but I almost died at rehearsal. It was a dance rehearsal and the set wasn’t fully built, but there was a platform that I thought was fully built, that they said was stable to walk on that had a trap door on it,” Pendergraft said. “As I was dancing, I jumped and did a turn, and the trap door like went caplooye. I’m here today and I live to tell that story.”
A case of deja-vu hit one of the cast members, too. Senior Roman Accardi is playing King Sextimus, the mute king, who is the father of his previous role in Once Upon A Mattress, Prince Dauntless, played by junior Trevor Harr this time around.
Of course, you cannot forget about the people who work backstage, with set, costumes, makeup, lighting, sound and much more. A production would be nothing without the hard work of the crew.
“It’s super fun to be in the crew of Once Upon a Mattress, and I love being able to see lots of my friends every day,” freshman Abbie Bavuso said. “One of the challenges of being in crew for the show is definitely how much time it takes up. It’s really tough when you have to miss things here and there because you have other commitments that you need to do.”
Once Upon A Mattress includes hints of humor, catchy songs, and fun dances.
“It has a huge cast, it has a lot of fun characters, characters that are over the top from normal everyday people that you might meet,” teacher Don Johnson said. “It’s colorful and the dancing is fun, the music is fun, it’s an enjoyable show.”
The drama is appropriate for all ages, with songs for kids and funny hints at adult jokes that will even make parents laugh.
“Our show is a great show for children,” Holthus said. “It’s a classic fairy tale told in a new and funny way. Our actors do a great job of becoming new characters and they really bring the show to life. The set and costumes will be amazing too.”
Cast and crew members are ecstatic to begin the production.
“I think it will be fantastic. All the performances are really strong and the set looks amazing,” Accardi said. “Everything is just coming along really well. Besides, musicals are awesome and it’s a really funny show.”
Tickets are five dollars for children and seniors, 10 dollars for adults and can be purchased online at showtix4u.com, which opens November 12 and closes November 21.