Sonoma Arts Live closes out its 25/26 season with Once Upon a Mattress, the musical reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea. Directed by Larry Williams, the fractured fairy tale plays on the Rotary Stage in Andrews Hall through Aug. 2.
The show, with music by Mary Rodgers; lyrics by Marshall Barer; and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer, is a roughly two-hour visit to a fictional medieval kingdom where Prince Dauntless (Tim Setzer) is looking for a bride. His mother, Queen Aggravain (Beth Ellen Ethridge), along with the court wizard (L.C. Arisman), keeps devising a series of tests designed to keep Dauntless mommy’s little boy. All is going according to plan until Princess Winnifred (Daniela Innocenti Beem) shows up and steals Dauntless’ heart.
There’s a lot of talent on this stage. Aside from Beem and Setzer, who both deliver adorably lovable performances, there’s the raw power of Whitney Isabella’s voice and the charismatic and acrobatic stage presence of Seanna Nicol.
Carly Leahy is perfectly cast as the minstrel who ushers the audience into the show’s world, and Arisman is right at home playing the kooky wizard. Jake Russell, as the mute King Sextimus the Silent, stole every scene he was in, especially during the two (yes, two) songs he performed without a sound.
Adriana Gutierrez’s costumes (with help from Barbara McFadden) bring her eye for lush fabrics and vibrant colors to the stage, though no other costume comes close to the grandeur of the Queen’s red Asian-inspired dress.
Despite all the good, there were some questionable design decisions made, the main one being Gary Gonser’s set. Usually, I would be excited about a minimalist set for such a complex show, but the choice to make extensive use of curtain openings and closings stole precious momentum that this show simply couldn’t afford.
Scene shifts were not the only time that the pacing slowed more than the story could handle. The opening pantomime was overlong and lacked the necessary crispness to sell the clowning work being so valiantly attempted by the chorus.
Theater is hard. Musical theater is harder. Comedic musical theater that calls for both excellent voices and clowning is quite probably the hardest. There are excellent voices, energetic and amusing acting and some truly spectacular clowning here, but together the whole doesn’t quite pass the test.
Sonoma Arts Live presents ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ through Aug. 2 on the Rotary Stage at Andrews Hall in the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma. Thurs–Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $25–$42. 707.484.4874. sonomaartslive.org.
