Bets Malone to Lead Cabrillo Music Theatre's ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
By: Kelsey Denette
Will a small pea hidden below twenty mattresses cause the Princess a sleepless night? Will the Evil Queen keep two lovebirds apart? These and other questions get answered in Cabrillo Music Theatre's all-new production of the fairy tale musical, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.
Bets Malone (The Marvelous Wonderettes) leads the cast as Princess Winnifred. This longtime favorite makes its Kavli Theatre Premiere on Friday, April 20th, 2012, and plays until Sunday, April 29th, at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, the musical that gave Carol Burnett her Broadway start, spins the classic fairy tale, "The Princess and the Pea," into musical comedy gold! With music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS tells the story of Winnifred, the girl who might be a princess, and who swims the moat in order to marry Prince Dauntless the Drab. In addition to Bets Malone, Cabrillo Music Theatre's production stars Scott Reardon as Prince Dauntless, Tracy Lore as Queen Aggravain, and Danny Gurwin as the Minstrel.
Cabrillo Music Theatre's production marks the first time that ONCE UPON A MATTRESS has been performed on the Kavli Theatre stage, and represents a rare professional production of the show in Southern California. Says Lewis Wilkenfeld, Cabrillo Music Theatre's Artistic Director, "ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is the perfect complement to our family-friendly season of musicals. Audiences may know it from seeing it in schools and youth theatre programs, but Cabrillo's production gathers the region's very best performers to bring this classic musical to life." Bets Malone, a favorite of Cabrillo audiences, returns to the Civic Arts Plaza stage, having starred in last year's comic THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, plus the more dramatic role of "Mother" in Cabrillo's RAGTIME. "There's no finer musical theatre performer in this part of the country than Bets," continues Lewis Wilkenfeld. "'Princess Winnifred' and Bets Malone is a match made in theatre heaven!"
Cabrillo Music Theatre's ONCE UPON A MATTRESS will be directed by Richard Israel, making his Cabrillo debut. Israel will be joined by Choreographer Cheryl Baxter, and Musical Director Daniel Thomas, the latter leading the Cabrillo Music Theatre Orchestra. In keeping with the theme of the show, any audience member showing up in pajamas will receive a free gift. And, continuing Cabrillo's OUTREACH program launched this season, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS will feature a signed performance for the deaf and hard-of-hearing on Friday, April 27th.
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