Hamilton Drama Presents: Once Upon a Mattress!
Photo submitted by Steighner.
Lauren Steighner
Spring has sprung at Hamilton High School, which means that Musical Season has fallen upon the students of Hamilton Drama Society. This spring, Hamilton Drama is bringing to life Once Upon a Mattress!
Mattress is the story of the Princess and the Pea, but told in a way that you’ve never heard before. Mattress just recently had its Broadway revival back in the fall of 2024.
Mattress takes place in a far off kingdom, ruled by Queen Aggrivain (senior Lydia Chew) and King Sextimus (junior Andrew Steele). The kingdom is under a marriage ban, and no one in the land may wed until Prince Dauntless (senior Ezra Mitchell) finds a princess suitable for his hand. However, in order for a princess to be seen as suitable, she must pass a complicated test. So far, 12 princesses have been tested and none have passed. Just when the kingdom is giving up hope, Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (senior Jenna Korban) arrives, and the Queen agrees to test her. If the princess can feel a pea underneath 20 mattresses, she may wed the prince. However, the test will not be a fair one, and the fate of the kingdom is in the hands of one girl’s night of sleep.
The students of Hamilton Drama have been in rehearsals for this since February, and are all thrilled to be finally entering performances. Their rehearsals for all these months started off with music rehearsals to learn to sing and perform the songs, and then blocking rehearsals where everyone learned their lines and where to stand onstage, as well as choreography rehearsals in order to perform high intensity dances. In the past few weeks, the cast has gotten together with the crew and the pit in the Fine Arts Center in order to put everything together.
This show has brought in lots of new members to Drama, as well as many returning members. We interviewed the cast about what their favorite parts of the show have been:
“Personally I love how the musicals have lately been attracting students who are completely new to drama, because it allows me to meet and become friends with people who I wouldn’t have otherwise known” - Livy Powell, “Ensemble”
“My favorite part about being in the musical is the amazing opportunities it brings. I have met so many amazing people throughout this process and I am so grateful for that. We all share a common love and passion for something and that is really powerful and special to me.” - Lauren DeGroot, “Ensemble”
“Throughout the process of mattress, I have grown quite close with a lot of people in the cast, which has made it such a special experience. I’m going to miss it so much because while we will always have more musicals, you can never replicate the same experience with the same people, especially with such an amazing group of seniors leaving us.” - Emily Muehlenbach, “Lady Merrill”
“Once Upon a Mattress is both an extremely exciting and quite difficult show. The plot, time period, songs and all the character work were all the stuff that was challenging, but the entire cast put their time and effort in. And the payoff is amazing, and I can’t wait for people to see this wonderful show!” - Andrew Steele, “King Sextimus”
Tickets are available online or at the door. Performances are May 2nd and 3rd at 7pm, and May 4th at 2pm. Let's “PAC the FAC”!
