Musical 'Once Upon a Mattress' Lights Up Wootton Stage

A Broadway hit, a turreted castle, women in gorgeous velvet gowns, men in tights—who could ask for more fun than that?

Well, ’s ambitious production of delivers quite a bit more.  For starters, the musical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Princess and the Pea features more than 140 students in the cast, crew and orchestra.  

By and large all voices are charming, bright and on pitch. The live orchestra is a rare treat in these days of cost-cutting as even professional theaters are forced to use taped music. And the choreography is remarkably crisp for the size of the cast (63).

Director Adam Graham explains, “We have so many kids in our program that I had to create a whole other chorus of serfs to accommodate them!” The stage set is also a star, the parapets and castle walls giving the players height and depth for their performances.

The stars range from royalty to the riff raff. Julia Wainger as Queen Aggravain is strong in lines and lyrics, a despotic diva voicing her desire to get her son married to the perfect woman (someone just like her) while really not wanting to let him go.

Divya Mouli as the Jester is a delight, with a pretty, well controlled soprano and a solid sense of comic acting. I couldn’t get enough of either of these talented young women.  

Jeffrey Popkin plays the Minstrel, who narrates some of the action; he has an able voice for the role and a strong stage presence. Other favorites were handsome Sir Harry (Tiziano D’Affuso) and his lovely Lady Larken (Helena Farhi). The silly Prince Dauntless the Drab is played ably by Ari Halevy, particularly considering he only stepped into the role three weeks ago. Enjoy the amusing antics of King Sextimus the Silent (Devin Goodman), who has to use the Jester to interpret his pantomimed thoughts and wishes.

After one princess bride prospect after another fails, a decidedly different Princess Winnifred (boisterously played by Stephanie Wasser) swims the moat to get to the castle. The queen is not impressed, though everyone else in the kingdom is. No one there can marry till the Prince does, so everyone has a stake in finding him a mate. Wasser can belt it out when she wants to and she grows in confidence in her role as the musical progresses. She really shines in the solo “Happily Ever After,” where she bemoans her lack of helpers on the road to princessly happiness (à la Cinderella’s chirping birds or Snow White’s Seven Dwarves). Fortunately, though the queen sets up a test for her that no one could reasonably pass, Winnifred prevails and she and the audience get their happily ever after.  
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Wootton Center for the Arts, 2100 Wootton Parkway, Rockville. April 1, 2 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., April 3 and 10 at 2 p.m. Reserved seats $15, general admission seats $10. Special general-admission-only performance April 7, 6 p.m. with pizza sales starting at 5 p.m. in the Wootton theater lobby. Tickets can be purchased from the Wootton Box Office (auditorium lobby) two hours prior to show times on performance days, April 6, 3 – 6 p.m. or online. For more information: 301-279-8581