Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Once Upon a Mattress by Mary Rodgers Once Upon a Mattress
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Once Upon a Mattress by Mary Rodgers Once Upon a Mattress. Once Upon a Mattress features music by Mary Rodgers along with lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller. The musical original started life off-Broadway, before coming to the mainstream theatre in 1959. The script is based on the classic fairy tale ‘The Princess and the Pea’ and features a number of catchy songs in an otherwise overlooked show. The musical has never been particularly popular in Britain, although it remains popular with American high schools and summer camps. The show had a revival in 1998 starring Sarah Jessica Parker in her first musical theatre role. Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller. The Princess and the Pea, a popular children’s fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson. T. Edward Hambleton, Norris Houghton, William Eckart & Jean Eckart. Original Broadway Production. Alvin Theatre, Neil Simon Theatre - Opened 11 May 1959, closed 1 Jan 1970, 244 performances. Cast: Joseph Bova, Carol Burnett, Allen Case, Jack Gilford, Anne Jones, Matt Mattox, Harry Snow, Jane White. Original London Production. Adelphi Theatre - Opened 1 Sep 1960, closed 1 Oct 1960. Broadway Revival. Broadhurst Theatre - Opened 19 Dec 1996, closed 1 Jan 1970, 188 performances. Cast: David Hibbard, Sarah Jessica Parker, Daivd Aaron Baker, Mary Lou Rosato, Heath Lamberts, Jane Krakowski, Lewis Cleale, Lawrence Clayton, Tom Alan Robbins, Ann Brown. What was your favourite production? Add your thoughts in the comments box. The musical is set in a medieval kingdom ruled by Queen Aggravain and the mute King Sextimus. The Minstrel acts as the narrator and begins to tell the tale of the Princess and the Pea which differs somewhat from the tale we all know and love. The Princess was actually one of 13 tested by the Evil Queen. We see the 12th Princess being tested with an impossible quiz and she fails the final question that would be impossible for her to answer. The Queen has created a law in the town that says no one can wed until Prince Dauntless shares his wedding bed, but she is unwilling to let any girl be good enough for him. One of the Knights Sir Harry realises that his girlfriend Lady Larken is pregnant and they are worried about the consequences. Larken says she will run away to hide her pregnancy but Sir Harry says he would rather try and find a suitable Princess himself to lift the town from the law. He tries to convince the Queen who is persuaded by the Prince to let him help. Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, an unrefined Princess travels to the castle and charms the court, but is instantly disliked by the Queen. The mute King finds out about the pregnancy and mimes it to his Jester and Minstrel, telling them to to say a word. The Queen devises another impossible task helped by her Wizard companion. They plan to put a tiny pea underneath the 20 thick mattress to see if the Princess is sensitive enough to marry her son. Winnifred tells the Prince and court about her home in the marshlands and everyone instantly likes her. Lady Larken fights with Harry and promises she will run away. The King attempts to stop her running away but then lets her escape to Normandy. That night the Queen hosts a ball making Winnifred dance the hardest dance possible, ‘The Spanish Panic’, but instead of collapsing herself, everyone else becomes a victim. Dauntless tells her that he loves her. During the night the Queen sets up the 20 mattresses for her challenge. She spots Larken running away as the Minstrel tries to protect her. Winnifred and Dauntless study for the test and she complains about wanting a ‘happily ever after’. Meanwhile the King has a man to man talk with Dauntless about the birds and the bees through mime. Lady Larken and Sir Harry confess that their love is as strong as ever as Winnifred passes the test and has a restless night on the bed. The Queen desperately tries to find a way to make the test invalid, but Dauntless yells at her telling her to ‘shut up’. This act of anger breaks the curse on the King and makes the Queen become mute, as the King lets Dauntless marry Winnifred. They force the Queen to hop around the room as punishment. It is revealed that the only reason Winnifred passed the test is because the Jester heard of the plan and planted metal weapons on each layer to give her trouble sleeping. He then removes them but Winnifred still struggles to fall asleep, even with just the pea disturbing her. As she falls asleep everyone lives happily ever after. ACT ONE. Overture Many moons ago An Opening For A Princess In A Little While In A Little While Reprise Shy Fanfare The Ministrel, The Jester and I Sensitivity The Swamps of Home Fight-Fight Spanish panic Tents Normandy Spanish PL NO. 2 Song of love. ACT TWO. Entr’acte Opening – Act II Happily ever after Man to man talk Very soft shoes Three O’clock In The Morning Yesterday I loved you Nightingale Lullaby Wizard Finale Bows And Exit Music. Tony Award Nominations: Best Musical, Best Leading Actress, Best Musical Revival. Once Upon a Mattress by Mary Rodgers. Music: Mary Rodgers. Lyrics: Marshall Barer. Book: Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller & Marshall Barer. Based on the fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea, Once Upon a Mattress was originally written by Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard Rodgers) and Marshall Barer as part of an adult summer camp. The original one-act version was so well-received that they decided to expand it into a full-length musical. The story centers around Prince Dauntless the Drab whose mother, Queen Agravain, seeking to keep the boy to herself, has declared that he will wed only a true princess of royal blood. When Princess Winnifred arrives dripping wet (having swam the moat!) and declares herself a contender for the Prince's hand, the Queen devises a clever test to determine whether this self-proclaimed princess is worthy of her son. Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Phoenix Theater on May 11, 1959 with Carol Burnett playing the part of Princess Winnifred, Joseph Bova as Prince Dauntless, and Jane White as Queen Agravain. Mary Rodgers, Composer of Once Upon a Mattress and Daughter of Broadway Royalty, Dies at 83. Mary Rodgers, who, as the daughter of a famous musical theatre composer (Richard Rodgers), a musical theatre successful composer herself ( Once Upon a Mattress ) and the mother of a musical theatre composer (Adam Guettel), held a singular place in the history of the American theatre, died June 26. She was 83. Ms. Rodgers grew up in a household steeped in music and theatre culture. She was born Jan. 11, 1931, to Richard Rodgers and his wife Dorothy Bell Feiner Rodgers. Richard Rodgers was not at that point the theatre eminence he would become—though he had already been working with lyricist Lorenz Hart for a decade. But, by the time Mary was 18, he was the author of Pal Joey, The Boys from Syracuse, I'd Rather Be Right (all with Hart), and Oklahoma!, Carousel, Allegro and South Pacific . Ms. Rodgers found success herself in the theatre at an early age. When still in her 20s, she wrote, with lyricist Marshall Barer and bookwriters Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller, Once Upon a Mattress , a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson fable "The Princess and the Pea." The piece began life as a short play written at the Tamiment adult summer camp in 1958. When it opened at Off-Broadway's Phoenix Theatre the following year, reviews were mixed. But the show—light and likable—proved popular. It transferred to Broadway's Alvin Theatre, and then the St. James, playing just over a year, all told. It made a star out of its lead actress, Carol Burnett, who made comic hay out of the awkward Princess Winnifred. Burnett and the musical received Tony nominations. The show thereafter proved a staple in regional and community theatre circles. It was filmed for television in 1964, and again in 1972, both times with Burnett. A Broadway revival in 1996 starred Sarah Jessica Parker. Ms. Rodgers never again enjoyed the same kind of success on Broadway. A revue featuring her songs, From A to Z , closed after a month in 1960. A new musical, Hot Spot , did the same in 1963. The Madwoman of Central Park West , a one-person musical starring Phyllis Newman, played 85 performances in 1979. Outside of Mattress , her most notable success as a composer was "The Boy From…," a comic number that spoofed the popular song "The Girl From Ipanema," written with her childhood friend Stephen Sondheim. The latter song was drawn from The Mad Show , a successful revue based on MAD magazine that ran a couple years Off-Broadway beginning in 1966. On it, Ms. Rodgers collaborated with librettists Stan Hart and Larry Siegel, and lyricists Marshall Barer and Steven Vinaver. She ended up collaborating with Sondheim on "The Boy From…" when Barer, who was temperamental and prone to tantrums, walked out of the show. "He was exuberantly all over the place," Rodgers told Playbill.com, about Barer. "It could be daunting for new producers, but he was always like that. He took every drug known to man; he was crazy." The original cast featured Linda Lavin, Jo Anne Worley and Paul Sand. The scion of a musical giant, Mary Rodgers became the mother of a notable composer when her son with Henry Guettel, Adam, began producing work in the 1990s.