[NEohioPAL]West Side Leader reviews WRPlayhouse's "Once Upon A Mattress"
Marie Dusini
mardus at sbcglobal.net
Thu Jul 27 22:42:11 PDT 2006
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Once Upon A Mattress runs until August 12th with a 7:30 p.m. sunday performance on July 30th
WRP stages winning production By David Ritchey BATH — The story of “The Princess and the Pea” has long been a favorite.
Western Reserve Playhouse’s (WRP) production of “Once Upon a Mattress” (music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Barer and Dean Fuller) is the musical version of this fairy tale that brought a young Carol Burnett to stage success. She had achieved TV success at that time on “The Gary Moore Show.” The show runs through Aug. 12. In “Once Upon a Mattress,” Prince Dauntless (Joseph Saks) hopes to find a wife. In fact, everyone in the kingdom wants him to find a wife (except his mother, Queen Aggravain [Theresa Benyo-Marzullo]) because no one can marry until the prince marries. Queen Aggravain constructs tests of each wife candidate and, of course, each would-be wife fails since no princess is suitable for her son. King Sextimus (Irv Korman) has been mute for many years. A curse was placed on the royal family — the King will be silent until a mouse devours a hawk.
Into this dysfunctional family/kingdom comes Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Deana Stein). Winnifred, or “Fred” as she likes to be called, sings of “The Swamps of Home” and describes her homeland as a place filled with mud, frogs and slugs.
Queen Aggravain arranges a test of Fred’s sensitivity. Fred will spend the night on a stack of 20 mattresses. Under the mattresses will be a single pea. Aggravain thinks only a real princess will be sensitive enough to feel the pea and not be able to sleep. Fred passes the princess test, and the audience can be sure that everyone lives happily ever after. This is probably the best production I’ve seen at WRP. From the moment one enters the building, it’s easy to note that things have changed. The WRP has a new stage curtain. This bright-red curtain replaces the 30-year-old curtain that has opened and closed on many, many productions. The new curtain seems a symbol of changes in the theater. Stein is as cute as any princess should be. A talented, gifted singer, Stein is studying vocal performance at Boston University. Stein knows where the laughs are in the script, and she gets every laugh the playwrights wrote. In addition, she’s great as a physical comedienne.
Korman has performed for almost every theater group in Summit County. In this production, he stretches his abilities and gives one of the best performances of his career. As the mute King, he has to pantomime all of his lines, including a duet, “Man to Man Talk,” with Saks. Korman gets a good deal of stage time to make the King funny and likeable.
Director Mark Zimmerman worked with the young cast and helped the performers develop distinct characters. He keeps the action moving at a break-neck-pace, yet every word can be heard throughout the theater. Zimmerman has helped this diverse cast create an ensemble production.
Choreographer Rachel Huffman had limited space and a cast with mixed dancing skills. Huffman choreographed to the strengths of her cast, made the nondancers dance better than they thought they could, and made it all fit on the small WRP stage.
Beth Ayers, musical director, plays the keyboard and never lets the musical pace slacken. Everyone in the family can enjoy “Once Upon a Mattress.”
For tickets, call (330) 620-7314.
David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
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top:963px; width:113px; height:13px; } --> </STYLE> <DIV></DIV> <H2>WRP stages winning production</H2> <DIV><SPAN class=text11>By David Ritchey </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>BATH — The story of “The Princess and the Pea” has long been a favorite. <BR></SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>Western Reserve Playhouse’s (WRP) production of “Once Upon a Mattress” (music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Barer and Dean Fuller) is the musical version of this fairy tale that brought a young Carol Burnett to stage success. She had achieved TV success at that time on “The Gary Moore Show.” The show runs through Aug. 12. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>In “Once Upon a Mattress,” Prince Dauntless (Joseph Saks) hopes to find a wife. In fact, everyone in the kingdom wants him to find a wife (except his mother, Queen Aggravain [Theresa Benyo-Marzullo]) because no one can marry until the prince
marries. Queen Aggravain constructs tests of each wife candidate and, of course, each would-be wife fails since no princess is suitable for her son. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>King Sextimus (Irv Korman) has been mute for many years. A curse was placed on the royal family — the King will be silent until a mouse devours a hawk. <BR></SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>Into this dysfunctional family/kingdom comes Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Deana Stein). Winnifred, or “Fred” as she likes to be called, sings of “The Swamps of Home” and describes her homeland as a place filled with mud, frogs and slugs. <BR></SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>Queen Aggravain arranges a test of Fred’s sensitivity. Fred will spend the night on a stack of 20 mattresses. Under the mattresses will be a single pea. Aggravain thinks only a real princess will be sensitive enough to feel the pea and not be able to sleep. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>Fred passes the princess test,
and the audience can be sure that everyone lives happily ever after. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text13>This is probably the best production I’ve seen at WRP. From the moment one enters the building, it’s easy to note that things have changed. The WRP has a new stage curtain. This bright-red curtain replaces the 30-year-old curtain that has opened and closed on </SPAN><SPAN class=text29>many, many productions. The new curtain seems a symbol of changes in the theater. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text29>Stein is as cute as any princess should be. A talented, gifted singer, Stein is studying vocal performance at Boston University. Stein knows where the laughs are in the script, and she gets every laugh the playwrights wrote. In addition, she’s great as a physical comedienne. </SPAN><SPAN class=text29>Korman has performed for almost every theater group in Summit County. In this production, he stretches his abilities and gives one of the best performances of his career. As the mute
King, he has to pantomime all of his lines, including a duet, “Man to Man Talk,” with Saks. Korman gets a good deal of stage time to make the King funny and likeable. </SPAN> <DIV></DIV><SPAN class=text29>Director Mark Zimmerman worked with </SPAN><SPAN class=text29>the young cast and helped the performers develop distinct characters. He keeps the action moving at a break-neck-pace, yet every word can be heard throughout the theater. Zimmerman has helped this diverse cast create an ensemble production. </SPAN> <DIV></DIV><SPAN class=text29>Choreographer Rachel Huffman had limited space and a cast with mixed dancing skills. Huffman choreographed to the strengths of her cast, made </SPAN><SPAN class=text29>the nondancers dance better than they thought they could, and made it all fit on the small WRP stage. </SPAN> <DIV></DIV><SPAN class=text29>Beth Ayers, musical director, plays the keyboard and never lets the musical pace slacken. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN
class=text29>Everyone in the family can enjoy “Once Upon a Mattress.” <BR></SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text29>For tickets, call (330) 620-7314. </SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text70><BR></SPAN> <DIV><SPAN class=text70>David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a </SPAN><SPAN class=text70>professor of communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association.</SPAN> <DIV> <DIV><IMG height=238 src="http://akron.com/20060727/images/spot/Spots_WestResrvPlayhous3441.gif" width=152> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
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