Thursday, April 17, 2008; Page GZ08
The Washington Post
A classic fairy tale was revived last weekend with Rockville High School's "Once Upon A Mattress," a musical retelling of the children's story "The Princess and the Pea."
In the musical, the young Prince Dauntless (Eric Alexander) is desperately searching for a princess to marry, but his mother, Queen Aggravaine (Tory Shreffler), thwarts every chance for her son to get married. To complicate things more, no one in the kingdom is allowed to get married until the prince has a wife. So one day, the brave knight Sir Harry (Peter English) brings a strange young woman, Princess Winifred (Paris Ford), to the kingdom. Almost immediately, the prince decides that he likes her. However, the queen doesn't and she gives the girl a test to see whether she is worthy of marriage to the prince. The queen devises a sensitivity test to see whether the princess can sleep on a bed of 20 mattresses, with a small pea hidden beneath.
The cast worked well together to put on a great show. Ford led the way with a strong overall performance that made the strange, witty and "shy" Princess Winifred a joy to watch in every scene. There were other standout performances from Shreffler as Queen Aggravaine, Callie Ingram as Lady Larken, David Forgy as the mute but hilarious King Sextimus and Rebecca Claborn and Amy Broadbent, who sang together in perfect harmony. There were a few difficulties with the microphones, but the cast could be heard clearly. Many of the show's other technical aspects were impressive. A number of sets, which included castle walls, the 20-mattress bed and a large transparent backdrop, enhanced the overall look and feel of the show. In addition, the pit orchestra played well and did not overpower the cast.
Overall, a talented cast with a great technical crew came together to put on a wonderful rendition of the fairy tale.
Ian Kyle
Col. Zadok Magruder High School
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