Senior cast members on the WRAM Morning Show preview the upcoming production
The Monmouth-Roseville High School Performing Arts Department will present its spring musical, Once Upon a Mattress, on Friday, March 15 through Sunday, March 17, at the M-RHS auditorium. The Friday and Saturday shows will begin at 7:00; the Sunday matinee has a 2:00 curtain time.
Perhaps most famous as being the musical that launched the career of Carol Burnett, Once Upon a Mattress purports to tell the REAL story of “The Princess and the Pea.” In a faraway kingdom, Queen Aggravain has declared that no one in the kingdom may get married until a suitable bride is found for her son, Prince Dauntless. The problem is that no princess can ever seem to meet the queen’s exacting standards. As the royal court grows more and more desperate to wed, Sir Harry ventures out and brings back the plucky Princess Winnifred. Determined to keep Dauntless from marrying this new candidate, the queen and her wizard devise a test that will prove once and for all that Winnifred is not a genuine princess and therefore not a suitable bride for Dauntless.
The cast includes seniors Mercy Bennett (Lady Merrill), Essence Brown (Lady Larken), Rachael Garrett (Lady in Waiting), Mateo Murphy (King Sextimus the Silent), and Lorelei Weidman (Princess Winnifred); juniors Anders Bergren (Sir Studley), Matthew Blackford (Sir Harry), Sawyer Fletcher (The Jester), Rowan Love (The Minstrel), and Jennika Raymond (Queen Aggravain); sophomores Drew Carlson (Prince Dauntless), Olivia Rogers (Lady Rowena), Angel Ruiz (Knight), and Tessa Weidman (Princess 12/Emily); and freshmen Sage Lewis (Lady Mabelle/The Nightingale), Fox Nelson (The Wizard), Hannah Neubauer (Lady Lucile), and Alex Sostarecz (Sir Luce). The show is directed by M-R English teacher Melissa Agar with music direction by Kevin Ferry and WIU student teacher McKenna Spangler. Senior Emerson Martin serves as the production’s assistant director.
Tickets for the production cost $10 for adults and $5 for students. Children six and under are free. Tickets may be purchased at the door. It is asked that students junior high and younger be accompanied by an adult.
Once Upon a Mattress is produced by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
***Courtesy of Monmouth-Roseville English Teacher and Director Melissa Agar***
