BASH held another spectacular musical performance this weekend. Each night, seats were full of parents, friends, and community members alike all laughing to this hilarious retelling of the story of The Princess and the Pea. Each performance was met with standing ovations and cheers from hundreds of people, each and every clap sorely deserved by the wonderful collaboration of departments who put this show together.
In Once Upon a Mattress, no person is allowed to marry until Prince Dauntless, played by Harrison Maxymillian, is able to find a bride. Prince Dauntless’ mother the Queen, played by Kailey Reinboth, requires Prince Dauntless marry a princess and designs tests for each potential princess that are designed to be impossible. Eventually, Sir Harry, played by Cole Major, seeks out a proper princess so he can marry Lady Larken, played by Emily Gates, and finds Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, played by Maya Lopez, in the swamplands. As the characters prepare for the test, Prince Dauntless and Princess Winifred fall in love. On the night of the test the Queen places a pea under twenty mattresses so as to test Princess Winifred’s sensitivity. When Princess Winifred can’t sleep, she passes the test and everyone is allowed to marry.
The plot is drama-filled, but the primary focus of the show is comedy. The show really shined with prop comedy, especially with the reveal that, to foil the Queen’s plan, many of her court had stuffed the mattresses with two lances, a wooden pole, a chain, and an entire knight. The gag where Sir Harry is always greeted with “yo,” or “what’s up?” coupled with him always striking a pose (accompanied by a spotlight of course) as he entered the room was hilarious. During the Spanish Panic section, the Queen even yells Mr. Brunner’s full name as she commands him to begin conducting which garnered many cheers from the crowd.
As usual the musical is not short of amazing acting and singing talent. Cole Major and Emily Gates had three whole duets which were sung perfectly in sync. Another “duet” was “Man to Man Talk” where Prince Dauntless and King Sextimus, played by Aaron Manaphone, talk about what people get married for. King Sextimus is completely mute, so it’s basically a solo accompanied by Aaron’s amazing visual acting.
Maya Lopez’s “The Swamps of Home” was an amazing solo as well, especially considering Maya is only a sophomore. Finally “Song of Love” was hands down the best song in the musical, forgoing the romanticized idea of a love song for a bar song about how Prince Dauntless is “in love with a girl named Fred,” while Princess Winnifred gets progressively more drunk.
“I was laughing throughout the entire thing,” says Hannah Paul, a Senior at BASH who has previously worked on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. “Maya really shocked me with her unmatched fabulous talent in singing and acting- her character was such a breath of fresh air and she played it flawlessly! She had me laughing the most by far.”
Steven Gregory, another Senior at BASH, echoed similar ideas saying, “I thought it was a lot of fun! the actors all did a great job and i don’t think it would’ve been nearly as good without them.”
Thanks again to all departments for putting on such an amazing performance. We eagerly await next years musical and wish all the best to every role from large to small.
