Once Upon a Mattress
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Movie Reviews of Once Upon a Mattress
Movie Review: Once Upon A Mattress DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this wonderful DVD showcasing Carol Burnett in her role as the Queen. This musical is awesome and the costumes are gorgeous. The storyline is enjoyable by all members of the family. A huge thumbs up for family entertainment.Movie Review: Winifred rocks!
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE this movie. Tracey Ulmann is a fabulous Winifred, and Carol Burnett is awesome as the queen. Thank you for making an old favorite available for DVD!Movie Review: Fun for the kids
Summary: 5 Stars
My daughter's school is doing a production
of this musical play, so I purchased it for her. A good kids flick,
Movie Review: movie dvd
Summary: 5 Stars
Going to Amazon sure beats going to any local stores. I can wait a few days for the good prices.Movie Review: The third time around Carol Burnett lets Tracy Ullman climb upon the mattresses
Summary: 4 Stars
In former days, that is to say, once upon a time, Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller decided to turn the fairy tale of "The Princess and the Pea" into a musical called "Once Upon a Mattress." It premiered off-Broadway in 1959 and made a star of Carol Burnett, who took the show to Broadway. In 1964 Burnett starred in the first television production of the show with Joseph Bova as the prince and did another production in 1972 opposite Ken Berry. Both times Jane White and Jack Gilford played the queen and king, while the first production had Elliott Gould and Shani Wallis, the second offered Wally Cox and Bernadette Peters. Now for the holiday season in 2005 television offers a third production of the musical, still with Carol Burnett, but this time with her playing the queen instead of the princess, passing the torch to Tracy Ullman, although Sarah Jessica Parker did a Broadway revival back in 1997 (both roles are for a mezzo/alto, the princess needing to sing from low B to high C# and the queen from low A to high B, so they are virtually the same vocal range).
The story is set in the kingdom of King Sextimus the Silent (Tommy Smothers), a kind man who is unable to rule because a fairy gave him a curse that stops him from speaking. In his stead Queen Aggravian (Burnett) has taken control and come up with one of those stupid rules that power mad rulers do in fairy tales that are turned into musicals. She has decreed that no one in the kingdom can get married until her son, Prince Dauntless (Denis O'Hare), has wed, and the prince can only marry the lucky princess who can pass one of the queen's tests. Nobody has, which is unfortunately because Lady Larken (Zooey Deschanel) is now pregnant with the baby of Sir Harry (Matthew Morrison). Something needs to be done. This is where Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Ullman) enters the picture. Prince Dauntless falls for her, even though she is painfully shy, and the only question is whether she can pass the key sensitivity test devised by the queen.
Along the way Ullman gets to sing "Shy," "The Swamps of Home," "Song of Love," and "Happily Ever After," while Burnett now gets to take a crack at "Sensitivity" and "Quiet." Burnett has fun wearing Bob Mackie gowns (who else designs these things?), Ullman brings her own brand of comedy to the role of Winnifred (who else is as wild eyed and as wacky as Burnett?). The two best songs are given over to the second leads, who are, after all, the soprano and tenor in the show, so the knight and his lady sing "In a Little While" and "Yesterday I Loved You." But this is a musical where the songs are cute (e.g., "An Opening For a Princess") and you watch this for the comedy. No, this is not as good as Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," but it was never trying to be. If you watched this on television tonight then you should already know if you want to pick this up, otherwise you key motivation will be having fond memories of one of the earlier television productions, neither of which are currently available.