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Director Tammy Grella and The Forman School theater troupe triumphed in their madcap romp through medieval Europe, “Once Upon a Mattress” last week. The large cast of royalty, palace residents, ladies in waiting and knights threw themselves into the complexities of the plot with a unique blend of discipline and abandon. Characteristically, our cast displayed more energy, enthusiasm and genuine rapport with the audience than I have witnessed in dramatic presentations at many other high schools. As the Queen, Kim Coulter flounced and sashayed her way through the performance successfully aggravating everyone in the kingdom, while her mute husband, played by Alec Beach, committed grand larceny all night by stealing scene after scene. One highlight of the evening involved the King’s miming the facts of life about the birds and the bees to a feckless Prince Dauntless the Drab, admirably played by Joshua Sacks, who continues to be the master of comic timing and nuanced character development. And he can sing.
The hilarious sub-plot involves Lady Larken, played demurely by Danny Magloire, and Ted Bartley’s chivalrous Sir Harry. The Lady is pregnant but “Throughout the land no one may wed ‘till Dauntless shares his wedding bed.” Harry stands loyally by his woman. Ted and Danny blended sweetly in their duets, displaying promising voices that should be cultivated in the future. The title role was inhabited by Allie Halstead as Princess Winifred, aka Fred, who managed to balance the image of an ingénue with the brashness of a girl who lived in the swamps, swam the castle moat and endured the torments of Aggravaine and her loyal Wizard, ably portrayed by Vince Romei. Allie treated the audience to a touching and soulful rendition of “Happily Ever After.” Throughout the evening’s mayhem, Spencer Daniel, the court Jester, sparked all of his scenes with humor and more athleticism than one can reasonably expect from a jester. Words fail in assessing Scott McCarty’s portrayal as the nightingale that famously attempts to help the princess go to sleep. If it walks like a bird, if it talks like a bird … oh well. Gretchen Conyers was the unfortunate princess #12, the queen’s earlier victim, and a lady in waiting along with Rachel Hafer, Maddie Bova and Jessie Mokler, while the knights in waiting, Rhys Cranfield, Kevin Mott and Christian Walters, were handsome in faux chain mail, striding the stage confidently. All six provided sturdy choral support for the soloists. Once again, Rick Doyle designed and painted an outstanding and dramatically functional production, this time a handsome, colorful medieval castle and garden. Perhaps director Grella should save the scenery and mount “Camelot” next year. The band was outstanding. TJ Thompson at the piano, Ben Shipley on drums, Max Bowman on bass and Shannon Copeland playing the flute all distinguished their own musical talents while never overwhelming the soloists. Everyone, in classic fairy tale tradition, lives happily ever after, that is after Alec Beach as the King finally regains his voice and strikes a blow for all mankind by forcing the Queen to hop, skip and jump at his whim as the mouse, at last, devours the hawk.  Print version of page
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