Once Upon A Mattress

Shepherd Junior High in Mesa, Arizona recently put on their spring musical.  They chose "Once Upon a Mattress to perform this year.  This is the musical tale of the classic "Princess and the Pea" fairy tale, but the show - originally performed by Carol Burnett on Broadway - is not your traditional fairy tale!

My good friend Dianna had the onerous task of creating the costumes for this production.  To say she is talented, is putting it mildly.  I'd be surprised if the Broadway costumes were any better than what she came up with for this bunch of middle school thespians!

Ladies in Waiting

The kids painted and built the scenery, too

Okay, the tennis shoes were later replaced... this was just the dress rehearsal!

Most of the pictures shown here are from a dress rehearsal, so my friend cautions that some of the costumes  in these photos weren't finished and still needed tweaking.  Even missing buttons and trim and other do-dahs,  I still think they look pretty spectacular!

These kids, both cast and crew, have been working diligently on choreography, acting skills, singing, sets and props since October. (They actually built the lute the minstrel is holding!) My friend has also been sewing non-stop for many months.

Most of these photos were taken of the dress rehearsal, so some of the costumes, such as the Jester's (above) weren't completely finished.

This knight looks great!

The performance, with finished costumes

Cast shot from one of the performances

I love the colors and the details on these costumes!

The golden crowns for the king and queen were actually fashioned from plastic buckets!  You'd never know to look at them.

I love the facial expressions

It's amazing what fabulous costuming can do for any production.  Besides giving them a professional look, these wonderful costumes increased the actor's on-stage confidence.  The cast all loved being properly outfitted, and it upped their enthusiasm for the entire production.

I want that red dress.
I don't know where I'd wear it, but I want it.
And the crown.  You need a crown with a dress like that.

The costumer tells me this shot shows the green dress before it was finished.
For some reason this shot makes me think of the musical "Wicked"

Here is the finished green dress during an actual performance. 

I think we have some budding Meryl Streeps and George Clooneys here!

Many who attended were surprised by the high quality of this production, which I think is a tribute to the director and the many others who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, as well as the actors.

Carol Burnett would be proud.

Trying to sleep on a bed "of nails"

And they all lived happily ever after...

Huzzah!

It was fun sharing my friend's costuming challenges throughout the past few months.  Middle school-age kids are still growing, so every pattern had to be altered extensively to fit properly.  We've been discussing this via phone for a long time, so it made it all the more fun to actually see the photographic evidence of them!  I knew my friend was a wonder when it came to her talents as a seamstress, but these costumes - even not completely finished and missing buttons and such -  were simply amazing.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing them, too.

Help promote self-esteem and the development of talents of all kinds:  Support your local school productions!  Support your local community theatre! 

This has been an unpaid public service message by ME.

Did I mention I want this dress?