FIRST LOOK: Once Upon a Mattress’ Star-studded Cast Sings 12 Songs from the Musical!
Epheses Teatron Group Inc. kicks off its first production of the year with the musical comedy, ‘Once Upon a Mattress’. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Princess and the Pea’, the book was written by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller, with music and lyrics by Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer respectively.
(READ: Once Upon a Mattress Opens this January)
About the Company
During the press launch last January 6, 2017, President and Artistic Director Sweet Samaniego-Buchanan gave us a background of how the Ephesus Teatron Group started.
Artistic Director Sweet Samaniego-Buchanan
“Ephesus started from friendship.”, exclaims Buchanan. She worked in Repertory Philippines for 15 years and said that, “My passion never changed when it comes to theater. Whether I do production, assistant music director, or whatever, I go and be part of any show.”
She started the company by doing events with her friends and colleagues in Rep. Soon after, it evolved into producing. ‘Little E.’ was the company’s first live production, followed by ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, ‘Once on this Island’, and most recently, ‘The Ants and the Grasshoppers’.
Since Buchanan came from Rep’s children’s theater, she has a special inclination for producing shows that are geared towards the youth.
Mobile Theater
Director Steven Conde (Dog Sees God, Suicide Inc.) talks about Ephesus’ thrust of being a ‘mobile theater.’
Director Steven Conde
“Ephesus aims to do school runs and tour its shows that’s why if you’ll notice if you watch the actual show, you can imagine that it’s a very mobile version of this particular production because we don’t want to confine it into just one theater. We’re hoping that we can bring it somewhere else, or schools and other companies can come over and watch us.”
About the Musical
The original production opened on Broadway in 1959, earning Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, and Best Lead Actress for Carol Burnett, who made her Broadway debut with this musical. The show received another Tony nom for Best Revival of a Musical in 1996, where Sarah Jessica Parker reprised the lead role.
According to Conde, Once Upon a Mattress is a parody of the fairy tale, ‘The Princess and the Pea’.
“It’s a little bit more crazy and whimsical because of all the altered relationships in the show. So the queen is a lot crazier in the show, everybody has hilarious characteristics, and the princess who the prince actually gets to fall in love with has to go through much more than just sleeping on top of 20 mattresses in this particular show.”
The star-studded cast gave us a delicious preview of 12 songs from the musical. You can watch it in the video below:
the cast of Once Upon a Mattress
1. Quiet by the Ensemble
2. Sensitivity by Emiline Guinid (Queen) and Onyl Torres (Wizard)
3. In a Little While by Yanah Laurel (Lady Larken) and Hans Eckstein (Sir Harry)
4. Normandy by Chino Veguillas (Minstrel), Steven Hotchkiss (Jester), and Yanah Laurel (Lady Larken)
5. Swamps of Home by Cara Barredo (Princess Winnifred)
6. Minstrel, Jester and I by Chino Veguillas (Minstrel) and Steven Hotchkiss (Jester)
7. Very Soft Shoes by Steven Hotchkiss (Jester)
8. Happily Ever After by Carla Guevara-Laforteza (Princess Winnifred)
9. Yesterday I Loved You by Yanah Laurel (Lady Larken) and Hans Eckstein (Sir Harry)
10. Song of Love by the Ensemble, with Niño Alejandro (Prince Dauntless), Cara Barredo (Princess Winnifred), and Carla Guevara-Laforteza (Princess Winnifred)
11. Shy by Carla Guevara-Laforteza (Princess Winnifred)
12. Finale by the Entire Company
Have you ever seen so many formidable theater artists on one stage?
The show will have a limited run from January 20-22 at the Tanghalang Yaman Lahi Theater of the Emilio Aguinaldo College.
You can buy tickets here.
