once upon a mattress

[dancing_through_life]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 2:10pm

So did anyone watch it on the Wonderful World of Disney? Here are the things that were missing or anything else I had a problem with lol. . . yes this proves I do not have a life lol :)
1- THE MINSTREL
2- Opening for a Princess
3- MUCH of the actual dialouge
4- Sextimus being a horn ball
5- Jester actaully being important
6- Pantomime and music on the lute parts of Fred
7- Larken running away and being stopped by the king
8- Lady Maybelle
9- Harry-Larken-Minstrel-Maybelle love web
10-Quiet
11-The confusion on the chambermaid/Winnefred
12-Arguing between Harry and Larken
13-Why are Fred and Dauntless sooooooo old?!
14-Swamps of Home was LATE
15-They cut out the knights helping fish her out of the moat
16-Did I mention there is no Minstrel?
17-Is Harry from the south? "Darling" "Pumpkin" "sweet"
18-Very Soft Shoes
19-Jester and Minstrel sucking up to the Wizard

*Did like the "Tartuffe center" hand gesture from the wizard during Sensitivity!*

20-Jester never attempted to get the king to give Dauntless the talk
21-Huckleberry dress
22-How old are Fred and Dauntless? For real
23-DIALOUGE HAS BEEN MANGLED!!!!
24-"I hear the call...*howl*" now *howl* equals "Winnefred get back in here before you get eaten by that dragon"
25-When was there a croquet match?
26-Party planning
27-Sir Luce?
28-"Once Upon Carol Burnette"
29-Wizard is so stiff

Anything else I missed? I hate to say it but I was not pleased. . . maybe if I hadn't done the show it would have been semi-enjoyable. But yeah did anyone else like it?

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 2:15pm

I have nothing to add...but I must say, I agree completely! I was in a school production of Once Upon a Mattress, and was therefore more disappointed then normal at the bad adaption. The costumes, especially Dauntless', annoyed me. And so did most of the casting choices.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 2:19pm

SEXtimus is supposed to be a hornball.

Updated On: 12/27/05 at 02:19 PM

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 2:40pm

Yeah Sextimus was a hornball.

I was in a production of it, and I played the wizard (yes a female wizard). It worked, I made her sassy, had a corset and a beautiful purple dress, and it just kicked ass.

I love playing the Wizard. Even though she deserved the song.

The Jester's song was unimportant, the Wizard should have had one...

[Danielm]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 5:48pm

You truly don't have a life. There have been long strings trashing the show.

I think you're all just nuts and bitter about it. I think this production was good. It was fun and true to the spirit of the original, the costumes, choreography and casting were all fun. This is a silly, funny, little show with a great score and great leading lady role--and that's all it ever was and all it should be. I don't know what you were all expecting but you all need to let it go.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 12:12am

OK, let those of us who don't have a life discuss it then, please.

I agree with dancingthroughlife, I mean, Tracey Ullman was just so miscast. I think the fact that Dauntess was so old made it funnier because it emphasized how long the Queen has been keeping him from getting married.
I think it wasn't well directed either, and the jokes fell flat.

[MarkysSparky]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 3:00am

I agree with every inch of the complaints. My youth theater group recently did this show and it was MUCH better on stage. They didn't skip as many songs as the TV version and they still made that king something of a hornball despite the theater group's Christian reputation.

Tracy Ullman should have been Lady Larken and Harry should have been Dauntless. Zooey Dreschenel(sp?) AKA Larken has much more to fill the leading role than Ullman. Plus, Zooey has more personality. They could have done so much more with this special.

And I missed the Minstrel. As my mother and I watched this, I continued to cry out "Where's the Minstrel?!?! WHERE'S THE MINSTREL!?!?" The lack of The Minstrel brought it down significantly. *nodnod* Yup.

[overthemoon419]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 10:33am

Actually, most of the things you mentioned as missing from the show were all absent from the 1972 televised version as well--possibly for time constraints, possibly because they didn't play out as well on screen as on stage. Also, in the 1972 version, Dauntless makes reference to being in his 30s, therefore making the Queen all the more overbearing and selective, having kept him single for so long.

[Hanna from Hamburg]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 1:18pm

Well, then Dennis' Dauntless should have mentioned that he was in his 40s, because he IS (born in 1962)!!!!

[greatgilly]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 1:49pm

With Dauntless being that old and the rest of the people in the court looking like they were in their 20's how were they even born? The kingdom would be empty...they could have never have been concieved if the marrige law existed. I hate it when Dauntless is played that old...yes it makes it seem that the queen is crazy but it MAKES NO SENSE. Also the choreography was awful (the Spanish panic looked like a walk in the park) and the diaglouge changes also were pretty bad. I was horrified by this production (and I was so looking forward to it. I also think that Ana Gastyre would be a great Winnifred.

[YankeeGal#24]

Posted: 12/28/05 at 3:01pm

I never saw the original, nor the 1972 version nor have I ever been in a production of "Once Upon a Mattress", and I thought the TV production was awful. Just poor acting overall (too bad Matthew Morrison's role wasn't bigger as he was a bright point) and poorly done.

Updated On: 12/28/05 at 03:01 PM