"Once Upon a Mattress" Time- Page 10

[where's my shoe?]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 3:10am

I have loved this show ever since I first saw it, probably 17 years ago. I enjoyed what there was of it here...but I was so dissapointed by what wasn't. I agree with ZONEACE, Tracy and Dennis were too old. I understand that Dauntless probably should be older, but it was a little awkward seeing Dennis act so young. I could live with his age, though. Tracy, though, was too old. I liked her voice, but she just wasn't funny enough for me to get past her age. Fred doesn't have to be 22, just not 42. Blame it on society. The comments on Carol being too big confuse me... the part calls for it, and I don't think she did enough. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think her comic timing has gotten very bad. "Opening for a Princess" is my favorite song in the show, so I was very sad about that, but I guess it wasn't "Disney" enough. I definitely missed the edginess of the show overall, including the King chasing all the ladies. That's what makes the show so great, to me, is that it isn't pure cheese.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 5:17am

For what it's worth I did enjoy it, though it wasn't great, as other people have said. Just to get some facts straight..."The Wizard and I" line was NOT just put in there or anything, it is there in the original script and just sort of a weird coincidence...the Minstrel is NOT the same as Sir Harry and never has been, nor was he the Wizard or anything, the Minstrel kind of narrates the whole show and was simply cut from this production. Normandy is usually sung by Minstrel, Jester, and Larken and then Larken and Harry have a different love song, Yesterday I Loved You, which was cut. It is a bit annoying that some of the best numbers are cut from the show, like "Opening For A Princess" and "Very Soft Shoes", and they are a couple of the best songs. It definitely was fun, and the thing I enjoyed about it was that throughout it just said, "I am a musical comedy and not ashamed" I mean, they had dancing guys in pink suits...and not to compare this to RENT in any way, but it was nice that it was not ashamed of being a musical, whereas, as people have said about RENT, it kind of tried to apologize for the fact that it was. So, while not great, I did enjoy Mattress.

[tthomas76]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 8:29am

I agree I thought they (Tracy and Dennis) were too old for the parts. I enjoyed Matt, Dennis and Carol. I was not really taken w/ Tracy but over all I enjoyed most of it...

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 9:24am

Normally, I loathe this musical. However, I found this movie really enjoyable! Matthew was so sweet and so handsome! Zooey was not very good with her singing, but she looked absolutely stunning.

Carol and Tracey were wonderful!

I am very pleasantly surprised.

[Georgeanne]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 9:30am

gumbo, I think all of us were just chuckling at the line, that's all.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 9:41am

The older thing worked. It was a fun new angle.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 10:03am

It just didn't work for me, personally. The original Television version (the very first one) is the funniest of the three I've seen. Jane White's Queen was so much funnier than Carols (sorry, Ms. Burnett)...and I just don't like it when people perform period pieces with contemporary speech patterns - what were they thinking, casting that Zooey person? and Who dubbed her? Because that singing voice didn't match her physicality at all. The design of the show was good - can't find fault with Bob Mackie's costumes and the sets were good - but the choreography was pretty lame when compared with the original also - I give it a big yawn.
If you can get to the Museum of Radio and Television in NYC - see the original. Jack Gilford is SO funny as the king, and Carol is in her element as Winnifred. Jane White can't be topped as Agravane.

[Phantour]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 10:22am

This musical was my first production in junior high and if we were as lame as the movie was, then I apologize to the audience! I may be bias, but I really feel the musical is pretty decent, but as some have mentioned about the movie, it was watered down. I missed the songs that were cut, and the characters that were missing, and I felt that the development of characters were cut down a lot as well. I enjoyed Carol as the queen, being at the age of 74 I'm surprised she could pull off a performance like this. I think Tracy was the best part of the movie. She made the character comical, a little all over the place, and a bit sensual in Happily Ever After. Her singing voice wasn't excellent, but in this version I didn't feel anyone had a stellar voice that blew everyone else out of the waters. However, I would have loved to seen Sarah Jessica Parker in the role when she did it on Broadway. Dennis was comical as Dauntless , but I was taken back by how old the character was now. I guess it really shows the queen has been making him wait for a lot of years, but the Man to Man talk seems really unrealistic now and it gets annoying about how naive he is. Zooey didn't quite do it for me as Lady Larken. If you want to see a better performance of hers and to see her sing stronger, then rent the movie Elf. The funny part was if I was a princess I rather pick Matthew as Harry than Dauntless. On the shallow level I enjoyed looking at him and hearing him sing. I didn't know what age level this musical was geared towards. I would say kids but the whole thing about Larken being pregnant (I must have forgotten that) without being married seemed more appropriate for adults who would understand it. As well at the man to man talk, but with the bird and bees mentioned I'm sure children didn't understand the real meaning. I thought they could have done a lot more with the movie, but I guess when you have to cut it down to like and hour and 40 minutes, you have to make sacrifices. I would have to say I think Cinderella is still the best remake of a musical movie that ABC has done.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 11:05am

I wanted to watch this, so I left my grandma's house early in order to be home in time. I got home at 6:30, was asleep on the couch by 6:45 and woke up at 8:45. Not being familiar with the show, I had no idea what was going on and just spent the last 15 minutes staring at Matt Morrison in the background.

At least it'll be out on DVD this week, I guess I can just rent it to figure out what was happening.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 11:17am

I've done the show, played Larken (and bloody hated it), but overall enjoy the show.

The movie PISSED ME OFF. They cut or trimmed down several of the songs. They cut an entire damn character.

They rearranged the songs to accomodate Zooey's five note range. On Normandy, Larken is up around G5 for portions of it.

Matt did rock my socks. I wish my Sir Harry looked and sang like that.....

Tracy was passable. I enjoyed her inititally but I began to enjoy her less and less as the movie went on.

What was with cutting "Opening for a Princess"? That song is such a gas and really does make a wonderful opening for the show.


Overall I give it a C-, and that's simply for the treatment of the material. I won't even get started on the direction (I swear the sets were made of construction paper....)

Stupid Disney.

[misto625]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 12:23pm

Did anyone catch the credits as to who else appeared in this film besides the listed stars. I think Vince Pesce and Martin Samuel are supposed to be somewhere.....

[children&art]

Posted: 12/19/05 at 12:24pm

this movie was really, really...BAD!

where was Sarah Jessica Parker or Marissa Jaret Winokur for Fred?

where was Bernadette Peters or for that matter Harvey Fierstein for Aggravain? (Carol Burnett was WRONG!)

Dennis O'Hare, too gay and too old and too creepy.

Zooey Deschannel (Larkin) was sublime I thought.

did Bob Mackie do those hideous Vegas gowns for Carol Burnett?

i know this is a Wonderful World of Disney production, but this being the 21st century i think they could have played up the sex-starved-ness of the kingdom a lot more - one of my favorite lines in a song is in "Opening for a Princess": "No one is getting any....younger"

Updated On: 12/19/05 at 12:24 PM