Once Upon a Mattress set to delight
- Details
- Published on Saturday, April 2, 2016
By Courtney Newton
Publicity
Westman audiences are in for a treat between April 18 and 23 when Strathclair Drama Club presents Once Upon a Mattress at 7:30 p.m. each evening. It's a fun and inexpensive night out with friends or family. Tickets for the musical go on sale on Saturday, April 2 at 10 a.m. They can be purchased in person or over the phone (204-365-2436) and paid for by cash or cheque. The box office will be open until 4 p.m. on April 2, and then from 10 a.m. until noon on weekdays from April 4 to 15. Don’t despair if you don’t get through on April 2, just keep calling or visit the box office to purchase tickets or be added to a waiting list!
In this hilarious tweaking of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, the kingdom of King Sextimus and Queen Aggravain is an unhappy one. The king has been struck dumb by a witch's curse and is condemned not to speak again until "the mouse devours the hawk.” The queen has assumed power and she talks enough for the whole royal household! She has decreed, “Throughout the land no one may wed, till Dauntless (the only heir to the throne) to the altar’s led.” However, she has managed to sabotage every princess who comes along. When Sir Harry and Lady Larken learn they are going to be parents, wed or not, he goes off to the swamps and brings back Princess Winnifred. Dauntless and Winnifred make a delightful connection and fall in love.
The queen is horrified and with the help of her trusted confident, the wizard, immediately begins to devise a test that will ensure the failure of yet another princess. Fortunately, Winnifred, with some help from Sir Harry, the king and the jester, isn't going to be quite so easy to get rid of.
Once Upon a Mattress opened on Broadway in 1959, with a young Carol Burnett playing the role of Princess Winnifred. Since then it has been performed on stages around the world by professionals and amateurs alike, and has been adapted for television in 1964, 1972 and 2005. Burnett starred as Winnifred in the first two adaptations and as Queen Aggravain in the most recent installment. This musical also appears on the resume of other famous actors such as Elliot Gould, Bernadette Peters, Zoey Deschanel, Matthew Morrison, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jane Krakowski and Tracey Ullman.
