A longtime fan of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS and Carol Burnett, I was anxiously awaiting the new version of the Mary Rogers musical. I was totally disappointed. It was difficult to sit through more than about the first fifteen minutes because it was slow, without sparkle, and very tedious( much like THE MUSIC MAN of a couple of years ago, that reduced the colorful musical to a tiresome bore with a totally "lacking" Harold Hill). I would assume that when a project like this is begun, the creative forces that be, would brainstorm to decide the pros and cons of the original work and then improve on them. This production blatantly amplifies the weaknesses of the original and eliminates everything that was charming and sweet. Eliminating the opening number gave us no interest in pursuing the story an further. And eliminating the purpose of the jester, wizard and King caused the best songs in the musical to disappear. Even Bob Mackie hit an all-time low with his wild "Queen" costumes that paid no attention to the time period or the concept of the rest of the show. Granted, the general costumes reflected an obvious lack of color, taste and design, but to match them with the Mackie creations was abysmal. Performances were average, mainly because of the missing script and clever lines. Dick Smothers was reduced to a minor plot ploy and the amazing mime antics int the original were completely missing. Miss Burnett was adequate, and with her major talent should have been stupendous. The rest of the cast looked eager to have something "happen" and it never did. I guess I would rather this production company NOT revive old musicals than produce lackluster shows like this.
Review of Once Upon a Mattress
