Christy Burbank and Cast

Once Upon a Mattress is a takeoff on the "Princess and the Pea" story, and to make it a full length musical, was padded out with extraneous characters and unnecessary song and dance numbers and a few too many episodes of charades. The first act is about 15 minutes too long. There's not a single hit song. And yet, surprisingly, it keeps popping up in schools and community theaters all over. I think it's its sheer innocuousness that makes it popular.

Even more surprisingly, I liked it. I suspect that Terry Davis, who directs this production and is a man with many years of theater experience, was well aware of the weaknesses of the show and had to find a way to jazz it up for today's audiences. And jazz it up he does, with the ingenious idea of doing the entire show a cappella.

The conceit is that a band of travelling players pull their truck up to the back of the theater, unload the scenery before our eyes, and put on a show for us. However, they didn't bring any musicians, so everybody has to sing without accompaniment. That's not strictly true, because almost all of the solos are supported by a backing chorus made up of cast members who aren't in that particular scene. They perform in the vocalese style that was popular in jazz music and the doo-wop style from the pop music of the time when the show was written. Apart from three small handheld instruments, percussion is provided by the chorus snapping their fingers or slapping their chests. Elliot Smith deserves a lot of credit as the music director.

At the performance I attended, I think some audience members found the chorus distracting, but it is a very effective alternative to hearing sparse orchestrations played by an undermanned band. (Almost none of the theaters in Albuquerque can afford a Broadway-size orchestra.) Besides, none of the music by Mary Rodgers (Richard's daughter) is all that distinguished. The lyrics by Marshall Barer are sometimes quite clever, but he's no Porter or Sondheim. The book, by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Barer, is pretty comical, but as I said, there's a lot of filler material.

Which is not always a bad thing. In this case, it gives some of the secondary characters space to shine. For example, the young and highly talented Julian Griego, who plays the Jester, gets to sing and dance a soft-shoe number that is totally irrelevant to the story but is a joy to watch. Kristen Ryan and Bryan Andrew Lambe get some decent stage time as the secondary couple and make the best of it, even though their out-of-wedlock pregnancy subplot goes pretty much nowhere. Hasani Olujimi gets to be flamboyant and do some magic as the Wizard. Robert Andrews does a good job as the Minstrel, with a nice voice and not-too-showy acting.

Among the leads, I was impressed by Gloria Goodman as Queen Aggravain—the name says it all, and Ms. Goodman is not afraid to make her as irritating as she should be. She throws in a little Jocasta action to give the show a tiny dollop of Freudianism. Nick Fleming does a fine job of making Prince Dauntless a lovable doofus. Jeff Chavez is fun in the Harpo Marx role as the king who has been cursed to be mute (it's not explained who cast the curse or why). And Christy Burbank is spunky and indomitable as Princess Winnifred, who can feel a pea under twenty mattresses, or so we are led to believe.

Speaking of those twenty mattresses, they are an impressive bit of scenery. The rest of the highly mobile set is good too. Credit to Wendie Cutcher and Mike Cutcher. Shannon Sheffler has done a good job with the costumes, and there are several quick costume changes for actors switching from their roles into the chorus and back, and I assume Gayle Smart as wardrobe mistress and Elizabeth Rathburn as stage manager make that work so smoothly. Peter Bennett has done an excellent job creating choreography to fit the confines of a small stage.

All in all, this Once Upon a Mattress is a cute show (I honestly think that's the best word to describe it). I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much without Terry Davis's novel take on the music: dispensing with the orchestra entirely. It wouldn't work for a show with songs we know well, but in this case it brings a freshness to what would otherwise be a fairly unremarkable musical. You'll probably never see anything like it again.

Once Upon a Mattress is being presented by Musical Theatre Southwest at 6320 Domingo NE (just east of San Pedro and just north of Central) in Albuquerque. Through August 2, 2015. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00, Sundays at 4:00. $22 general, $20 students and seniors, $15 children 12 and under. Info at musicaltheatresw.com or 505-265-9119.

Photo: Jason Ponic

--Dean Yannias