Over-the-top silliness undermines what can be a clever little musical.

Once Upon a Mattress, the 1959 Broadway show that made Carol Burnett a star, is unlikely to show up on anyone’s list of the Top 10 American musicals. Despite its engaging features – lovely if not memorable music, clever lyrics (“I lack a lass; alas! Alack!”) and a loony book — it is a tough show to stage successfully. A tightly crafted production, however, can provide a thoroughly entertaining evening of fun and laughter.

Mattress is a send-up of Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Princess and the Pea, in which a forlorn prince (Prince Dauntless) is unable to find a princess for his wife acceptable to his overbearing mother, the queen. One day a bedraggled woman (here named Winnifred) arrives at Dauntless’ castle. Sopping wet after swimming through the moat, she claims to be a princess from a faraway swampy kingdom. But she is far from the typical demure royal; rather she’s an exuberant eccentric with a mind of her own.

Dauntless is immediately smitten, but his mother refuses to believe Winnifred is a legitimate princess so she devises a test, placing a pea under the 20 mattresses Winnifred will sleep on. Of course, Winnifred passes the test and, as in all fairy tales, she and the prince live happily ever after.

Michael Kuhn as Prince Dauntless | Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography

Overdone silliness

Unlike the original story, the musical Mattress’ story is loopy, so much so that it’s easy to overdo the humor and turn Andersen’s charming tale into a nonstop, extended slapstick routine. And that’s the rub with Central City Opera’s misguided production. In other hands (for example the 2024 Broadway revival or Arvada Center’s recent incarnation) Mattress can be a delight from start to finish. But CC Opera’s version is so over the top with overdone sight gags, overacting and ridiculous costumes that the silliness overwhelms what can be a little gem of a musical.

This is largely the fault of director Alison Moritz. Moritz, Artistic Director of the company, comes from the opera world, and if she has any experience in musical theatre it isn’t obvious from this show. In addition to turning Mattress into an unrestrained farce that quickly becomes tiresome, she has selected a cast, with one exception, of opera rather than musical comedy performers. The result is a group with good voices but lacking the acting chops and dance skills that musical theatre demands.

The one exception to the cast is Marissa Rosen as Winnifred. Rosen has impressive Broadway and off-Broadway credits to her name, and this shows in her engaging characterization of the charismatic princess. Although physically she isn’t the typical princess type (Rosen is short and stocky) she is completely believable as she sings and dances her way into Dauntless’ heart, and ours.

Ultimately though, despite her winning performance, Rosen cannot singlehandedly turn this production into the delightful romp that Mattress’ creators, and we, deserve. And that’s a surprise given Central City Opera’s usually right-on presentations, and a disappointment.