After far, far too long, Carol Burnett returns to television in a remake of the musical that made her a star- "Once Upon a Mattress". It is a pleasure and a relief to see that the lady still has a handle on hilarity; her performance as control-freak Queen Aggravaine is one for the ages, with all her comedic powers still honed to a razor edge.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast, and they do try. Tracey Ullman tries on Burnett's star-making role of Princess Winifred the Woebegone on for size, and promptly gets swamped, mainly because she doesn't have Burnett's lightning timing and relies on her winsomeness instead. She's competent, but that's not what you want from a Winifred- you need comic magic. She's also a bit old for the role, a problem that someone tried to tackle by scaling up the ages of other players. Denis O'Hare is more or less okay as Prince Dauntless, but the "birds and bees" song that is charmingly innocent when sung by a 21-year-old actor is a bit grating when it comes from a man in his forties. And as Lady Larkin and Prince Harry, Zooey Deschanel and Matthew Morrison are in way over their heads, unable to sing with the personality and energy required. Their song together, "Normandy", was musical mush that cried out for Barbara Cook to straighten them out in a master class at Juilliard.
Edward Hibbert was fine as the Wizard, more than able to stand up to Burnett's energy and panache, and Michael Boatman managed to make the Jester interesting, even though the role had been stripped of its show-stopping soft-shoe number, "Very Soft Shoes". Tom Smothers is perfect as the henpecked and mute King Sextimus; we don't see half enough of him nowadays, so it's great to have him on hand here.
The most disappointing part of the proceeding was the limp, leaden direction, design and cutting; it's as if no one involved in the project had ever seen a musical comedy on film before. The pace was too stately, the sets too underlit, the gags too rehearsed- and with the magnificent exception of Queen Aggravaine's costumes, the show is underdesigned, with a sepia look that is supposed to evoke the Middle Ages, and just looks murkily depressing and uncomedic.
No matter. Even for all these flaws- and they're pretty glaring- Carol Burnett saves the day, with a Queen Aggravaine every bit as fine, inventive and funny as her Princess Winifred turn of yore. It's too bad that Burnett's 1964 or 1972 versions couldn't be electronically combined with her performance here; it would be a hoot to see Burnett-as-Winifred up against Burnett-as-Aggravaine. Whatever the faults of this "Mattress", it's well worth watching for Burnett; TV has been the poorer ever since she left prime-time.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast, and they do try. Tracey Ullman tries on Burnett's star-making role of Princess Winifred the Woebegone on for size, and promptly gets swamped, mainly because she doesn't have Burnett's lightning timing and relies on her winsomeness instead. She's competent, but that's not what you want from a Winifred- you need comic magic. She's also a bit old for the role, a problem that someone tried to tackle by scaling up the ages of other players. Denis O'Hare is more or less okay as Prince Dauntless, but the "birds and bees" song that is charmingly innocent when sung by a 21-year-old actor is a bit grating when it comes from a man in his forties. And as Lady Larkin and Prince Harry, Zooey Deschanel and Matthew Morrison are in way over their heads, unable to sing with the personality and energy required. Their song together, "Normandy", was musical mush that cried out for Barbara Cook to straighten them out in a master class at Juilliard.
Edward Hibbert was fine as the Wizard, more than able to stand up to Burnett's energy and panache, and Michael Boatman managed to make the Jester interesting, even though the role had been stripped of its show-stopping soft-shoe number, "Very Soft Shoes". Tom Smothers is perfect as the henpecked and mute King Sextimus; we don't see half enough of him nowadays, so it's great to have him on hand here.
The most disappointing part of the proceeding was the limp, leaden direction, design and cutting; it's as if no one involved in the project had ever seen a musical comedy on film before. The pace was too stately, the sets too underlit, the gags too rehearsed- and with the magnificent exception of Queen Aggravaine's costumes, the show is underdesigned, with a sepia look that is supposed to evoke the Middle Ages, and just looks murkily depressing and uncomedic.
No matter. Even for all these flaws- and they're pretty glaring- Carol Burnett saves the day, with a Queen Aggravaine every bit as fine, inventive and funny as her Princess Winifred turn of yore. It's too bad that Burnett's 1964 or 1972 versions couldn't be electronically combined with her performance here; it would be a hoot to see Burnett-as-Winifred up against Burnett-as-Aggravaine. Whatever the faults of this "Mattress", it's well worth watching for Burnett; TV has been the poorer ever since she left prime-time.