'Mattress' production not a sleeper of a play

Kudos to musical director Nancy Dutton, director John Truitt and choreographers Roni Grandell and Susan Romero, who also served as stage manager, for an outstanding production of “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Accompanied by my wife, Kim Chamberlain, I attended the 7 p.m. Veterans Day performance at Anderson Union High School’s performing arts center and we both were fully entranced by the joint drama and musical efforts of Anderson and West Valley high school student actors, singers and dancers.

The musical, based loosely upon Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale “The Princess and the Pea,” started off Broadway in May 1959, but quickly moved later that same year to the former Alvin Theatre on Broadway, a theater that now proudly bears the name of American playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon.

Later adapted for high school performance, the musical has been a perennial favorite of many school drama groups. In December 2009, several of its key songs were even included in the 12th episode of the television show “Glee.”

Dutton’s production featured strong vocal performances from Queen Aggravain (Julieanne Mondorf, 17, a senior at West Valley), Lady Larkin (Hannah Boyle, 16, a junior at West Valley) and Princess Winifred (Carren Graves, 17, a junior at Anderson High.)

The male leads included Prince Dauntless (Jordan Allen, 16, a junior at Anderson High), Sir Harry (Clayton Christiansen, 16, a junior at West Valley) and King Sextimus the Silent (ably performed by Ricky Blaney, a junior at Anderson High).

Also notable were the Minstrel (Thomas-Joseph Ridge Culp, 16, a junior at Anderson High), the Jester (hilariously performed by Aimee Redden, 16, a junior at West Valley) and the Wizard (capably played by William Clark, 16, a junior at West Valley.)

The fanciful costumes were designed by costume manager Carrie Graves and sewn by a small army of 12 seamstresses while the make up artists included Trinity Eide and Misha Hethcoat.

The production’s many lighting changes were orchestrated by Pete Belton while the sometimes difficult job of putting a mic on active performers went to Casey Hickok.

Many more parents and other volunteers lent their hand at selling concessions during performances as well as rehearsals, distributing promotional posters, taking photographs, building and designing the fanciful sets and handling all of the technical aspects of a truly stellar production.

My hat is off to all of you for a thoroughly enjoyable night of theater magic.

Thank you!