Once Upon a Mattress
Youth Edition
Produced by Southern Idaho Youth Theatrics
Synopsis
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." The kingdom is unhappy because King Sextimus has been struck dumb by a witch's curse and can only speak when "the mouse devours the hawk." Queen Aggravian has taken control and decrees that no one in the kingdom may marry until her son, Prince Dauntless, weds a true princess of royal blood. After testing twelve applicants, she is disappointed as each fails her impossible tests.
Princess Winnifred the Woebegone arrives from the swamp, acting unlike a typical princess. She impresses Prince Dauntless, who falls in love with her. Queen Aggravian devises a new test: placing a pea under twenty mattresses to see if Winnifred can feel it and thus prove her royal birth. To ensure Winnifred fails, the Queen exhausts her with dancing and gives her a sleeping draught. However, Winnifred does not sleep and spends the night counting sheep. The Queen orders her to leave, but Prince Dauntless defies her, and the Jester's proclamation that "the mouse has devoured the hawk" breaks the curse on the King. At the end, it is revealed that the Jester placed various items under the mattresses to keep Winnifred awake.
Synopsis
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." The kingdom is unhappy because King Sextimus has been struck dumb by a witch's curse and can only speak when "the mouse devours the hawk." Queen Aggravian has taken control and decrees that no one in the kingdom may marry until her son, Prince Dauntless, weds a true princess of royal blood. After testing twelve applicants, she is disappointed as each fails her impossible tests.
Princess Winnifred the Woebegone arrives from the swamp, acting unlike a typical princess. She impresses Prince Dauntless, who falls in love with her. Queen Aggravian devises a new test: placing a pea under twenty mattresses to see if Winnifred can feel it and thus prove her royal birth. To ensure Winnifred fails, the Queen exhausts her with dancing and gives her a sleeping draught. However, Winnifred does not sleep and spends the night counting sheep. The Queen orders her to leave, but Prince Dauntless defies her, and the Jester's proclamation that "the mouse has devoured the hawk" breaks the curse on the King. At the end, it is revealed that the Jester placed various items under the mattresses to keep Winnifred awake.
