Fabian Vazquez
Stage Movement
Jenn Zuko
Once Upon A Mattress
The Use of Physical Humor
When it
comes to the productions by Metropolitan State University of Denver there are several
things which are done well and some which in certain aspects could use
improvement. On March 4th, I was able to see the production of Once Upon A Mattress by Mary Rodgers and
Marshall Barer and directed by Marilyn A. Hetzel. The story follow a kingdom in
distress due to the ridiculous laws set in place by Queen Aggravain to
safeguard her clueless son Prince Dauntless. The retelling of this fantastic
classical comedy musical was executed amazingly with a number of different
physical pieces interjected in this production of Once Upon A Mattress. The musical itself already lends well to the
many movement techniques which can be implemented into it due to the simple
nature of how it was written, and MSU Denver was able to transition this on to
the stage. There was a lot of
different clowning elements put into many different scenes, the dexterity and stamina
of the actors, and the usage of this movement to develop characters and move
the story further along.
The usage of
clowning techniques and many other physical comedic effects in this production
of Once Upon A Mattress was used well
and made for some great moments in the show. The antics of King Sextimus, the
Minstrel, and the Jester, played by Michael Rossitto, Bryan Anderson, and Andy
Nuanhngam respectively, were when we saw many of these elements come into play and
with their interactions with other characters. During the scenes in which it
had been the three of them, the usage of pantomime was very strong and lent
well to the story, due to the curse put upon King Sextimus of being mute.
Another character in which physical comedy was used successfully was with
Princess Winnifred, played by Kinsey Scholl, in which there were moments
throughout the play that involved with the fleshing out of her character as a
tomboy. One particular moment with this character which had quite a bit of
physical humor, was the back and forth playing between her and the Nightingale of
Samarkand, played by Brianna Herman, in which they had been on top of the huge
bed of mattresses. The flapping of the wings and fighting between the two
characters as Princess Winnifred tried to sleep made for an enjoyable moment.
When it came to all the actors, there was a
level of physical shape to be able to carry out the many physical feats in the
show while still singing and acting. The whole ensemble had been able to carry
a lot of the musical numbers due to this fact. During the number The Song of Love the many ways in which
the spelling of the Fred was implemented there was the need for actors which
had to be quick with their movements and be present. There was the number of
the Spanish Panic which had most
characters having to dance quicker and quicker as one by one each couple
tumbled away until all who were left was Prince Dauntless and Princess
Winnifred. During this number, the actors seemed to have good control of their
gravity and bodies, allowing for a safe approach to what could have been a chaotic
and cataphoric number, but could just as easily made for a much more boring
piece if not for the level of physical control. The movement of some moments in
which characters fell into moats, simple fell to their knees, or fell victim to
their disadvantages, the control of their physicality helped greatly in the
performance to make these pieces more realistic or to gain the desired effect.
The musical
pieces were all well-choregraphed along with the other elements already implemented
and also the movement lending itself to the story. The script itself and the
significant plot points of the story already have a large portion of this
physicality built into it, and this production could use these elements successfully.
King Sextimus being a mute throughout the musical and having this as one of the
main obstacles for the characters to overcome is a built in physical trope,
making the character pantomime in order to communicate. The way these scenes
had been created on stage for this production took on what seemed to be a
common approach, but with the actors that had been in command of the movement
it made for an overall better piece. Movement was also used to establish many
characters, and to flesh out who there were and what they meant to the story as
a whole. Their modes of movement and presence on stage made for interesting stories
on their own with each being able to live in the body of their character,
instead of simply letting the performance being one dimensional and simple use
their everyday way of moving.
This
production of Once Upon a Mattress put
on my MSU Denver’s theatre Department was a well-crafted one, which also did
well in terms of movement. The use of clowning
and physical humor was played to the show, the control that actors had over
their physicality showed, and the ability to choreograph story and create
characters through movement all came through in the performance.
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