Perfect casting all around produced fine-tuned dancing, exquisite singing and spot-on acting. It was enough to bring a smile to everyone’s face and forget for a spell the angst of the world beyond the stage at Actors Cabaret of Eugene.
The Non-Stop Players — a resident music theater company of ACE and perhaps the finest music theater troupe in the Eugene-Springfield area — polished off the first weekend of the romantic comedy Once Upon a Mattress August 8 through 10 with delightful energy and flair, and the cast is back at it for a final weekend August 15 through 17.
The musical — music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Marshar Barer — made it to Broadway in 1959 with a cast that included the great Carol Burnett. It follows the lives of English castle dwellers in 1428 who are surrounded by a moat. The leader is the ever-conniving and ever-talkative Queen Aggravain (Molly McCarthy). She does love the sound of her voice, and she is commanding.
She has assumed leadership status with gusto because her philanderering husband, King Sextimus (Ethan LaBrasseur), has been rendered mute after a witches’ spell and cannot speak again until “the mouse devours the hawk.” You will have to watch the musical to see if the spell is broken, but LaBrasseur does a wonderful job acting out his part as a mute.
Their son is Prince Dauntless (Reece Miller-Reynolds), and he is — well, a heartbreaking and dim-witted soul of a character who has been sheltered from most of life, especially women. He desperately wants to marry a princess, but Queen Aggravain prohibits this until the perfect princess comes and passes a series of extraordinary, and unfair, tests. Really, she just wants to control him. And worse, Queen Aggravain has declared that there will be no marriages in the kingdom until her son the prince is married, and that might be never.
To the rescue, after swimming the moat to enter the castle, comes Princess Winnifred the Woebegone from the Swamplands (“Fred” to family and friends), played with vigor by Jillian Vogel. She enters, slightly disheveled, stands tall and proud and belts out the signature piece of Mattress, “Shy,” and the volume and energy of the musical rises accordingly. Also, mayhem ensues.
There’s the on again-off again romance of Sir Harry (Spencer Williams) and Lady Larken (Clare Brennan), and the ever-burning question: Can these two kids just finally get together? Comedic relief comes from the Minstrel (Garett Poncho), the Jester (James Glavin) and the Wizard (Colin Gray).
Once Upon a Mattress with the Non-Stop Players is a fast-paced adventure, and if you attend, treat yourself to a couple of scoops of ice cream at intermission. You’ll be glad you did.
Once Upon a Mattress with The Non-Stop Players wraps up its eight performance run with 7:30 pm shows August 15 and 16 and 2 pm matinee performances August 16 and 17 at Actors Cabaret of Eugene, 996 Willamette Street. Tickets are $21 to $32 and can be purchased at TheNonstopPlayers.org.