Give Disney's Once Upon a Mattress a Grade — Page 4

Sorry to offend you Munkus, but I like Matt and Zooey- and Tracy was really funny... sorry you dont agree- its just my opinon.

I agree with whomever said the choreography was horrid. It was. The pace seemed to be slow too, esp. during "Shy".

Overall, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either. I did enjoy Tracy's "Happily, Happily Ever After" and I thought Zooey's voice was great and mixed beautifully with Morrison's during "Normandy". I too wanted more from Tracy though. Oh well.

Solid C, I think.

Did you hear that? EVERYONE?

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I, personally, disagree with whoever said that. Anyone with any sense would diagree with that.

I knew who Kathleen was before I ever heard of Rob Marshall.

While I highly respect her stage work, I thought her work in MATTRESS was deplorable.

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Zooey and Matt could not have been more boring if they tried. (And I am a fan of Matt's work...he was fine alone, but Zooey just brought him down.)

Carol was the only thing I enjoyed. Sue me. And the new song, I liked it. The ending was all wrong for Carol...but ya know...

Tracy I thought did a fine job. The music was so boring, she could do nothing to make it entertaining. And, from what I understand, it was the orchestrations that were bad. "Spanish Panic" has to be one of the worst scenes ever in a movie. EVER! Even the dance scene in Grease looked tougher than the supposed "toughest" dance ever. Everyone was fine, then they all pass out. It's like they cut scenes, choreorgraphy, and life from that sequence. Then again, perhaps it was the boring nature that caused them all to pass out. Sure made me pass out.

Denis had his moments. Or moment. He was too - gay - as usual. And he was too old for the role. Tracy looked like she should be Denis' mother - but that's casting - can't blame the actors for how they age.

This was my first and last look at Mattress. Completely turned off.

Updated On: 12/19/05 at 08:05 PM

I give it a B.

Oh, heck, it wasn't TRYING to be a work of brilliance. I thought it was lighthearted and fun, and I had fun watching it, even though I knew I wasn't watching the next great leap forward for the movie musical.

I thought Tracey was great. Matthew was gorgeous as usual, I love his voice. I too was worried about Denis being a bit miscast but he won me over pretty quick, I thought he was great and had some hilarious deliveries. I loved Carol even though I felt she could have been meaner - meaner and less wacky. Zooey wasn't top notch, but goodness, isn't she pretty?

Maybe I feel this way because I wasn't all that familiar/attacted to 'Once Upon a Mattress' and therefore wasn't expecting anything. For me it was an enjoyable couple of hours, like I said before, flawed but fun.

"Ofcourse I was annoyed that they took out the Minstrel and his songs, but I'm glad that gave Harry and Larken "Normandy", instead of that other song. It made since too, because they really weren't as mad as they are in the play."

I agree. When Lady Larken was in jail and she said she was leaving because she had a fight with Harry I was thinking, "What fight? Was this edited out? Oh, you mean that arguement when Winnifred first arrived? Please I forgot about that 30 minutes ago!" So when that scene began when Harry and Larken meet again I was thinking Yesterday I Love You isn't going to work now since they don't seem mad at each other. Plus Normany is one of my favorite songs so I was thrilled they still kept it and Matthew sounded really nice singing it.

I'll give it a C. I'd give it a B, but they changed my favorite song, and got rid of my other favorite. Normandy and Very Soft Shoes, respectively.

And no Minstrel made baby Jesus cry.

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I guess I didn't notice the song cuts because I have the original cast and there weren't that many changes from it. From the WWD movie musicals I've seen, I'd rate them in this order.

Annie
Once Upon a Mattress
Cinderella
Music Man

B-

cute, some good acting, looked cheap, but oh well, it was enjoyable

C

I didn't expect a masterpiece. Just a pleasure will be great. But the show is not funny at all.

And I agree, the choreography is silly. I love Katherine Marshall's work in Kiss Me, Kate and Wonderful Town. But here it is simply bad.

I find it interesting that so many people were blown away by Matthew Morrison in this production. Yes, he has a beautiful voice, but he sounded so generic in this that it was a total bore. I guess that's the Disney stamp, but he was made to sound like every romantic lead in every recent Disney animated musical. If I closed my eyes, it could have been anyone singing that. I guess that's why people liked Zooey -- because she sounded unique.

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