Event
Leechburg Drama Club Presents Once Upon a Mattress
Many moons ago in a far-off place, Queen Aggravain decreed no couples could marry until her son, Prince Dauntless, found a bride. Princesses came from far and wide to win the hand of the prince, but none could pass the impossible tests given to them by the Queen. That is, until the shy swamp princess, Winnifred the Woebegone, showed up. Would she be able to pass the Sensitivity Test, marry her prince and help Lady Larken and Sir Harry to the altar? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the classic tale The Princess and the Pea provides some side-splitting shenanigans. For after all, a princess is a delicate thing.
In the summer of 1958 at a resort in the Poconos called Camp Taminent, three young writers (composer Mary Rodgers and lyricist/librettists Marshall Barer and Jay Thompson) adapted Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Princess and the Pea for a week-long run. This one-act musical proved so popular that it was held over and, before you could say "sensitivity," the show was snapped up by producers for a commercial run in New York.
By the time it opened off-Broadway in May of 1959 at the Phoenix Theatre, the show had acquired an additional author, Dean Fuller (who had previously worked with Marshall Barer on New Faces Of '56), a new director (the estimable George Abbott), a second act, and a new title: Once Upon a Mattress. Casting had undergone many changes, but the biggest was the result of George Abbott's desire for a new face to play the starring role of Princess Winnifred. It was Abbott's daughter, Judy, who "discovered" Carol Burnett a new comedian then appearing at New York City's famed Blue Angel nightclub and recommended her to Barer and his collaborators. Upon her arrival in New York, Burnett had determinedly insisted to her younger sister that she was going to be the star of a Broadway musical directed by the famous George Abbott long before anyone in The Big Apple had even heard her name. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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LocationLeechburg Area High School (View)
215 1st St, Leechburg
Leechburg, PA 15656
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 5 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
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