With her outsized features, brassy voice and campy
sensibility, Jackie Hoffman is an inveterate scene stealer. And that's a
problem for the revival of Once Upon a Mattress that is playing in a Transport
Group production down at the Abrons Arts Center through Jan. 3. Because Hoffman
is its star and without the need to wrench the attention in her direction, she
seems a little unsure of how to put her comedic powers to the best use.
And director Jack Cummings III, who has come up with some
terrifically imaginative concepts for his company's past productions, seems
just as much adrift. His big contribution is having an artist augment the
show's low-budget scenery by drawing in additional elements in simulated real time via video
projections. But Cummings isn't, alas, able to get his cast performing as
though they're all in the same show.
That show is the musical version of the classic fairy tale
"The Princess and the Pea" that was written by Mary Rodgers and Marshall
Barer with a book by Barer, Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller. Their Once Upon a
Mattress tells the story of Winnifred the Woebegone who has to
prove she's a princess so that she can marry the heir of the realm.
She clinches the deal when she's unable to fall asleep after
the Queen Mother, who opposes the marriage to her son, has a pea slipped under
a pile of mattresses on Winnifred's bed: it turns out that only someone royal would
be sensitive enough to be bothered by something that small.
It's all silliness but it also creates a great opportunity
for a female clown to show off her physical comedy chops and Once Upon a
Mattress made a star of Carol Burnett when it debuted in 1959. A 1996 revival
with Sarah Jessica Parker fared less well.
Hoffman seemed a more fitting successor (click here to read a profile of the actress). And she does have some good
moments, including her rendition of the almost-can't-miss song "Shy,"
in which Winnifred bellows about how bashful she is.
But Hoffman seems stiff and awkward with Scott Rink's amusing
choreography. More importantly, she doesn't convey the underlying poignancy
that makes Winnifred's quest to be accepted more than just a joke.
Her fans and lots of critics adore Hoffman and they've been
touting this performance but I found it hard not to think of what Burnett
brought to the role. The current production has the air of a community theater enterprise
in which some folks know what needs to be done and others don't.
Jessica Fontana and Zak Resnick as the show's second
romantic couple—a nobleman and his pregnant lady fair who can't marry until the
prince does—have the demeanor and vocal dexterity that would fit right into any
production during Broadway's Golden Age.
But while the decision to cast John Epperson, best known as
the drag artist Lypsinka, as Winnfred's nemesis the queen sounded like a lot of
fun it turns out not to a lot less than expected. Hoffman and Epperson are both downtown
favorites but their approaches to the work are totally different.
Hoffman, a veteran of Broadway shows ranging from On the
Town to The Addams Family, tries to work within the script. Epperson, on the
other hand, doesn't trust the material (or maybe himself) and falls back on his
usual shtick—campy asides to the audience and movie diva impersonations.
There's something off about a show in which the biggest
curtain call applause goes to the the person who has sixth billing. That would be Cory Lingner, who has an
audience-pleasing turn in the Gene Kelly-style dance number "Very Soft
Shoes."
On the other hand I got to the theater early and spent an
hour sitting in the lobby of the Henry Street Settlement House in which the
Abrons Center is located. While there, I heard the 7-year-old daughter of the
receptionist asking her mom if she could see Once Upon a Mattress again because
it was so funny. So, the show apparently does have an audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment