Lake City Playhouse’s ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ brings ‘technicolor medieval fever dream’ to life

Like a princess and prince finding each other at the end of a fairytale, Marie Hunt directing Lake City Playhouse’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress” was meant to be.

Hunt’s parents met when her mother and her father’s then-girlfriend were performing in a production of “Once Upon a Mattress” in high school. Hunt said her mother thinks she played the same role, Lady Rowena, her granddaughter Juliet is playing in Lake City’s production.

There’s also the fact that shortly after Hunt learned she was directing the show, someone cleaning Lake City’s attic found a VHS tape of the playhouse’s previous production of “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Hunt hasn’t watched it yet because she didn’t want outside influences (and she doesn’t have a tape player) but she’s planning on getting it digitized and playing it during the cast party.

“My sense of humor is very goofy and silly, and I could not wait,” Hunt said. “I love the whole vibe. It’s very mid-century medieval, technicolor, cartoonish, illustrative medieval. I always loved that style of art, so when (Artistic Director Brooke Wood) asked me to direct this particular one, I was like, ‘Oh yeah.’ ”

“Once Upon a Mattress” opens Friday and runs through June 7. It features music direction by Scott Michaelsen.

The musical is set in a medieval kingdom ruled by the scheming Queen Aggravain (Jessica Jameson) and King Sextimus the Silent (Daniel Hunt), who, as his name suggests, is mute due to a curse from a witch that will be reversed when “a mouse devours a hawk.”

Those in the kingdom are desperate to see Prince Dauntless (Chance Turnbull) get married, as the Queen has decided that no one can get married before he does. But, try as they might, the queen turns down any princess who shows interest in the prince, claiming they have failed her nonsensical tests.

Perhaps no one is as desperate as Sir Harry (Daniel Renz), a knight who discovers that his girlfriend, Lady Larken (Karlin Kahler), is pregnant. He decides to find a princess good enough, in the queen’s eyes, for Prince Dauntless.

Enter the rough-around-the-edges Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Amanda Guinn), who arrives at the castle having swum through the moat to get there. Prince Dauntless is immediately smitten, as is the rest of the kingdom, but the queen takes an instant dislike to her.

It’s an uphill battle for Princess Winnifred to pass the queen’s test so she and Prince Dauntless can have their happy ending.

The cast also includes Juliet Hunt, Cate Shelton-Jenck, Bekah Preston-Dunn, Lily Estenzo, Shawn Mulligan, Nicholas Morgan, Preston Dunn, Ryan Prades, Michael Dunn, Camdyn Hook, Desirae West, Hannah Strickland, Issy Williams and Joann Latimer.

“Once Upon a Mattress” features music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and a book by Barer, Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller. The musical is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea.”

Hunt, who directed “School of Rock” last season at Lake City, is most familiar with the TV adaptation starring Carol Burnett but she chose to take her inspiration from the humor on the page rather than other performances of the musical.

She had a mid-century vision for the show and wanted it to look like the cast and sets were pulled from the pages of a book. Wood’s daughter Cassie painted a mural for the show with lots of bold colors in an illustrative style.

“Our first cast meeting, I said, ‘The vision is a technicolor mid-century medieval fever dream,’ ” Hunt said.

To bring that fever dream to the stage, Hunt enlisted Wood to build the set and, perhaps most importantly, the bed Queen Aggravain challenges Princess Winnifred to sleep on. Wood crafted a bunk bed on wheels that features a quilted front, made by Wood’s mother, that when folded down, looks like mattress after mattress stacked on top of one another.

Hunt did however take inspiration from vaudeville-style musical numbers and performances by the Andrews Sisters for ideas for scenes during which a small group of characters were on stage.

“The whole feel of the music and the style of the comedy is very reminiscent of the ‘50s, so I wanted to bring a lot of that in, even with the movement and some of the acting styles,” Hunt said.

Hunt is co-choreographing “Once Upon a Mattress” with Andy Lee. It was easier than it sounds to juggle directing and choreographing because to Hunt, directing is all about making shapes and something that’s visually cool for audiences to watch, which is what choreography is all about.

“I want it to move a certain way and look a certain way,” she said. “It’s pretty similar to how I direct a scene without music.”

Hunt had a little dance training when she was younger but doesn’t consider herself a dancer and was grateful to have Lee on hand for the more technical dancing moments, including a soft shoe number.

Adding to the whimsy on stage is Michaelsen and his bandmates, bassist Cole Rosaia and percussionist Mason Oyler, who Hunt said were surprisingly willing to don medieval shirts and floppy hats as part of what she’s calling the court band.

Hunt thinks “Shy,” a song Princess Winnifred sings right after she arrives at the castle, is the perfect introduction to the character, who is anything but shy. She also loves the “surprisingly sweet” song “Man to Man Talk” as it features King Sextimus the Silent teaching Prince Dauntless about the birds and the bees, all without saying a word.

“It’s actually harder in some ways, because you have to memorize the lines of what you’re trying to say and come up with a way to express that without saying anything,” Hunt said.

Moments like that bring a lot of humor to the show but also a lot of heart. Comedy can feel a little one-note, Hunt said, but when you add a layer of humanity in a show, the character’s motivations feel real.

“You have these moments where you’re kicking your feet because they’re falling in love, or you’re wiping a tear away because he’s reminiscing about his father,” Hunt said. “It makes the comedy better, because that’s why we have comedy. We have that to contrast with life. People are really going to find that when they come and see this. The actors are brilliant at finding those moments.”