Once Upon A Mattress Review

On November 18th, I was lucky enough to attend Hingham High School's Drama Club performance of "Once Upon A Mattress". The show depicted the classic fairytale "The Princess and the Pea" with its own comedic twist. I enjoyed the lighthearted plot and was highly impressed with the talents of the student performers and of course, the talented musicians!! I was especially impressed with Meghan Cashel's portrayal of "Winifred the Woebegone". Not only was she hilarious, but her character required a high-energy performance which she maintained throughout the whole show. My favorite song from the musical was "Shy" which introduced Meghan's character to the audience. The irony of Winifred describing herself as shy when she was obviously anything but shy was entertaining to the audience. I also enjoyed the "Song of Love" which also featured Winifred, as well as the entire cast. The pit did a phenomenal job! They complimented the performers perfectly and never distracted the audience from the storyline. I played in a pit over the summer for the kid's cabaret performance of "The Music Man" and I discovered that it was very different from performing in concert band because the pit's job is to enhance the performers whereas in concert band, we are allowed to "steal the show".
I think the pit did an excellent job by not taking away from the performers. On a few occasions, it was hard to hear certain people trying to speak over the pit, but I think that was more of a technical issue than an issue of the performers themselves. I also learned from my experience playing in pit that the music is really difficult (or at least the clarinet music was, so kudos to Robert). Although the onstage performance of the musical was impressive, as a fellow musician, I was the most impressed with the pit. Overall, however, I thought "Once Upon A Mattress" was a wonderful show and I would suggest it to anyone who enjoys musical theatre.