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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><br><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br>
</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;color:rgb(204,0,0)"><b style><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in">
<b style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Farcical ONCE UPON A MATTRESS at Mercury Summer Stock </span></b><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">What do Carol Burnett,
Jack Gilford, Dody Goodman, Imogene Coca, Buster Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker,
Jane Krakowski, Bernadette Peters, Wally Cox, and Elliot Gould all have in
common?<span style> </span>They all have been in
professional productions of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is
a musical farce based on the Hans Christian Anderson short story, THE PRINCESS
AND THE PEA.<span style> </span>It opened
off-Broadway in 1959, and despite mixed reviews moved onto Broadway later that
year.<span style> </span>Much to the surprise of
many, it was nominated for Best Musical, but to the surprise of none, Burnett,
in her Broadway debut, was nominated for Best Leading Actress.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">It went on to become a
television special in 1964, again in 1972 and 2005, all of which starred
Burnett.<span style> </span>There was a Broadway
revival in 1996.<span style> </span>Its now on stage
at Mercury SummerStock.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The fairy tale takes
place in a fictional kingdom ruled by the overbearing, control freak, Queen
Aggravain, and her mute husband, King Sextimus the Silent.<span style> </span>The king cant speak because of a curse
placed on him.<span style> </span>Prince
Dauntless the Drab, their son, is in search of a wife.<span style> </span>The Queen doesnt want to lose her nebbish
off-spring, so she devises all sorts of tests to insure that none of the
possible princesses who are recruited for the role passes, and wins Dauntlesss
hand in marriage.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">When Princess Winnifred
swims the palace moat to get into the competition, Aggravain meets her
match.<span style> </span>The free-spirited Winnifred
wins the heart of the prince and his court, and with the help of the Minstrel,
Jester and the King, passes the royal test.<span style> </span>Of course, the King gets his voice back, Winnifred and
Dauntless get togetherness, and everyone, except the evil Queen, lives happily
ever.<span style> </span>(Come on now, this is a
fairy tale.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is
a musical farce.<span style> </span>Of all
types of theatre, farce is undoubtedly the hardest to perform.<span style> </span>It takes perfect timing, the right
control over <span style> </span>exaggeration, and
outlandish believability.<span style> </span>Think Lucille
Ball, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The Mercury cast, under
the direction of Pierre-Jacques Brault, gets a lot of the farce correct thanks
to some good portrayals by dynamic, uninhibitted Kelvette Beacham as Princess
Winnifred, Dan DiCello as Prince Dauntless, and Brault, who cross-dresses as
Queen Aggravain.<span style> </span>Eddie Carney, the
musical director/pianist, gets laughs as the silent, but, dirty-old-man King
Sextimus.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Brian Marshall sings,
winks, and smiles his way through the role of the Minstrel, adding ad libs
about John Travolta, the Kardashians, Bambi, acid reflux and the <span style> </span>unzipped fly of his pants.<span style> </span>He even throws in an audience pleasing
negative aside about the reviewer whose article you are now reading.<span style> </span>(The fact that the script can be
tampered with shows the lack of depth of the storyline development.<span style> </span>Believe me, this is not a great epic,
but it is fun.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Highlight numbers
include<i style> Shy</i>, <i style>Song Of Love</i> and <i style>Man To Man
Talk</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Brault adds visual
elements including puppets, takes on the LION KING, and costuming that relates
to many other fairy tales, including dressing the ladies and gentlemen of the
court in identifiable character garb.<span style>
</span>Kaitlyn Dessoffy is adorable as Tinkerbelle, Aubrey Fink makes for a
fine Belle (from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) and Anne Bakan is a vision of Snow
White. <span style> </span>Tasha Brandt (Jester) sings
well, as does Brittany Lynne Eckstrom (Lady Larkin).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">On the other hand, some
of the cast just isnt up to the acting level needed to pull off farce,
overdoing their affectations or totally missing the creation of a character. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Jonathan Andersons costume designs
are excellent.<span style> </span>The set, consisting
of suspended gold picture frames works well.<span style> </span>The piano accompaniment by Eddie Carney is well played, but
gets lost in the large auditorium.<span style>
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.1pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1pt;margin-left:0in"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:<span style> </span>If your purpose for going to the theatre, as the program of
suggests, is to escape, laugh and let your imagination soar, then youll enjoy ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.<span style> </span>Its
filled with much cleverness, laughs and visual pleasure, but misses out on more
due to some misguided performances.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><br><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></i></p><span style="color:rgb(204,0,0)"></span><br style="color:rgb(204,0,0)">
<br><br>