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Raucous energy at heart

Once Upon A Mattress, music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer. A First impressions Theatre production at Deep Cove Shaw Theatre to Dec, 2. Res: 929-9456.

IT IS interesting to compare Once Upon A Mattress with Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods, currently running at UBC’s Freddie Wood Theatre.

By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer

Sondheim's cleverly conceived and adventurously arranged musi- - cal takes four classic fairy stories,

intertwines the plots and, just when you think it's happy-ever- -after- time, delves into its ‘own metaphors and morality in an unexpectedly disquieting second act. Once Upon A Mattress is far less‘complex. [t reteils, with tongue'slightly. in cheek, the sim-

ple nursery, story of The Princess’

“And The Pea and provides its audi-

-encé with a love story or two and” accompanying duets, a little soft shoe, some inoffensive comedy -

_ and the traditional happy-ever-after ending.

_- i It's: a> show: to which you.can quite safely take your great-aunt or your grandchildren. The-music is

accessible, the story uncomplicated’

Murray, who recently and spec-

tacularly pulled almost all of it off

in Noises Off, once agin is a standout.

From the moment her princess C‘Sust call me Fred.") swam through the castle moat and into the musical, my urge was to get out a fishing rod and see what else was down there. In the immortal words of Farley Mowatt: “She's a keeper, ch!”

Murray's gauche gusto provid- ed a raucous energy that gave heart to a pleasant production that, on opening night at least, necded to believe in itself a littke more.

For instance, while the chorus numbers were generally powerful

the duets and trios often seemed

tentative. -

‘But since the difference between singing a song and selling a song is only the amount of fun the performer is having, perhaps a few performances will provide the confidence needed.

And there is much solid work to build on. ° ;

Brooke - Burgess’. dopey Dauntless with the mournfully liq- uid eyes of a blood hound without

and the sexual innuendo; unlike the ~ tudge-nudge, wink-wink style of | |

pantomime, charmingly innocent.

’ In fact, given its formulaic

approach to the business of being a

musical, the show would be unre-

. markably bland if it were not for

its central character — the role that

“gave Carol Burnett. her boost up

Broadway.

Burnett's legs are long ones to

fill but Cheryl Murray pulls it off.

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Leslie Davie is an effortlessly chauvinistic prig with good inten- tions, while Colleen Bignell, as bis disadvantaged lover, is a sweet- voiced bundle of confusion,

Joan Harris and Al Simpson are a perfectly contrasting pair of rulers: a big, brassy queen and her silent sparrow of a husband.

Congratulations must go to Nick Boughen for designing a sct that has successfully served Noises Off and Arsenic And Old Lace in previous incarnations, But director Norman Leggatt might have been better advised to reduce the bulk and gain more floor space since the company numbers looked very cramped.

This unfortunate crowding of the dance scenes is compounded by a clashing series of contrasting colors and fabrics in the costumes that left me wanting to close my eyes when too many of them moved at once.

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