B-
D-. I turned it on late and saw my two favorite numbers, swamps of home and happily ever after and couldn't bear to watch more. While Ullman was not nearly as miscast as Matthew Broderick in MM, i still hated it and thought it was the weakest of the series. (At least the others had well known shows/actors). Apart from Carol Burnett, this one had NO ONE who meant anything to the average audience and Entertainment Weekly made a great point that with Kristen Chenoweth doing Old Navy commercials, why is Tracy Ullman playing Winnifred?! Hopefully the next one will be better.
F
I tried to enjoy it, I really did. But it was too much for me, I had to change the channel after about 15minutes
Broadway Star Joined: 7/19/05
B
The movie was cute but rather forgettable. I loved Denis O'Hare and Matt Morrison but Lady Larkin wasn't very good in my eyes.
C
choreography was a little iffy
Featured Actor Joined: 12/31/69
C+
I loved Matty Fresh, but only my love for him would make me watch that movie & purchase it.
Carol Burnett was good... she made me want to play that role.
Negatives:
Tracy Ullman was too old.
Denis O'Hare was too old.
Therefore they weren't that interesting to watch.
Matty should have been on the screen more.
Zooey's voice does not match with Matty's well... hers was more jazz oriented, not really meant for Mattress showtunes.
Still, regardless... I was happy to see Matty again!
~JKor
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/22/05
D
Too much screwing around with it in order to make it family friendly-- if you want to make a Disney movie, pick a musical that isn't full of inuendos... and don't take out the damn minstrel.
Overall: C
Denis O'Hare and Matt Morrison: A
C-
My college is doing Once Upon a Mattress next semester... I expect it to be a better production than this one.
Understudy Joined: 12/17/05
B, from what I saw. (I didn't see the whole thing.)
Stand-by Joined: 10/1/05
I'd say a B+. It wasn't trying to be some illustrious work of art, and it didn't need to be. I personally loved Tracey, especially her "Happily Ever After." Matt, I thought, sounded lovely and was funny in a cute way. I like Zooey's voice a lot, but I don't think it was very well suited for this show. I bet she'd sound great singing "Nowadays," though.
Is the Disney Cinderella good? I've never seen it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/9/05
B-
This should be the last TV musical that Disney does.
I did not like Cinderella because of the racial confusions (why is Bernadette Peters the mother of two black girls?)
Annie was okay, but I don't want to see Cheno doing another villain.
I've yet to see Gepetto, but from the reactions on "Whose Line?" (because Drew Carey hosts that show), it did not get good reviews.
The Music Man was fine the way it originally was handled with Bob Preston and Shirley Jones, and everyone was cast in the wrong role except for Kristin Chenoweth.
Once Upon a Mattress was...okay except for the intro that made it seem as if Mary Rodgers wrote it just to advertise Disneyland. WRONG!!!!!
B+
What I think everyone is failing to realize here is that "Once Upon a Mattress" really isn't that strong of a show, especially score-wise. It's a VERY dull, contrived score that's quite slow in its dance sections, making it difficult to choreograph.
However, good decisions were made in order to keep the movie short and making more sense. The lousy scenes with the Minstrel and the Jester singing completely random songs were fortunately cut, allowing more time to be focused on the characters that actually move the story forward.
Tracy Ullman was a fantastic Fred, in my opinion, giving what she had to work with. Burnett was fine, but Fred is really her role, not Aggravain. Deschanel and Morrison were cute and sang well (she really wasn't flat, people), and O'Hare gave a solid performance as Dauntless.
Now, the movie had its share of problems. A lot of the sexual energy that drives the show on stage obviously was taken out, cause, well...this is Disney, and good songs were cut, and some were pooly edited (Song of Love, particularly.)
But it's a TV Disney children's movie. I personally wasn't expecting a Chicago, and didn't get that, but i was pleased with what i saw.
Jasobres, I think you are a little confused by your memories of Cindrella. Bernadette was not the mother of two black daughters. I think Veanne Cox is as white as they come.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
B+
Denis O'Hare and Carol Burnett were AMAZING!
Tracy Ullman, Edward Hibber and Tommy Smothers were good.
The rest of the cast was forgetable.
The choreography was good.
Overall, I liked it. lol.
D for Dreadful.
B.
It was okay. Enjoyable, but not great.
I loved ANNIE and CINDERELLA, though.
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