News

Once upon a fairy tale musical

By Scott Wagar

02/11/2014

The Bottineau Community Theater Group will be presenting “Once Upon a Mattress” Feb. 20 through 23 at the Holwell Auditorium and no doubt will bring laughter and heartfelt warmth to the theatergoers of this musical comedy.

Tim Davis, director of “Once Upon a Mattress,” chose this production because he said the theater group wanted to choose a play outside the norm of its regular productions.  

“It is a cute, fun story,” Davis said. “And, we wanted something different, something we hadn’t done before.”

The plot play originates from the fairy tale, “The Prince and the Pea,” and deals with King Sextimus (played by Duane Sebelius) who is cursed with silence, leaving his evil wife, Queen Aggravian (Dianna Bullinger) as a tyrant in his kingdom, serving herself instead of the king and his people.

Her goal in the empire is to keep her son, Prince Dauntless (Chris Beckman) single. The queen does this by creating a test that is impossible for all the princesses of the monarch to pass. To make matters worse, Queen Aggravian decrees that no other prince or princess can marry until her son is wed.

This doesn’t sit well with Sir Harvey (Luther Olson) and Lady Larken (Leah Benson) who want to marry, but now has to wait. With the decreed, Sir Harvey goes on a quest to find a princess for the prince and discovers the lovely Princess Winnifred (Jacque Marum) who is more than an equal match to the queen and who Prince Dauntless falls in love with, with all his heart.

With a competitor in the queen’s court, the plot thickens and becomes adventurous.

Davis said the Broadway production of “Once Upon a Mattress” opened in 1959. With 55 years that have passed, Davis stated that he is adding a contemporary mix to his production
“I am trying to modernize,” he said. “I am placing the wave, the stomp and a few other things to add some humor. I think it will appeal to both the older and younger audience.”

As the story line passes along, there are also a variety of delightful song and dance numbers that will keep those in attendance with tunes whistling in their minds.

“There will be a lot of single numbers and solos plus duets,” Davis said. “At the end of Act One we have a special number that I feel is going to be great.”

The curtain goes up for “Once Upon a Mattress” at 7:30 p.m. each night with a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m.