By Teresa Cheong
When the lights faded away, the old chapel at the Fenway Center was transformed into a Medieval fairyland. “Once Upon a Mattress,” the new musical production by Northeastern’s Great White Way, hit the stage Friday night.
“It was the first theatrical show in the Fenway Center and we are excited,” said Great White Way chairman Peter Karpathakis. “Everybody is dedicated and really determined to get it done.”
With plays and shows formerly run at the 100-seat ballroom at the Curry Student Center, this was the Great White Way’s first performance at the 300-seat Fenway Center and its largest performance to date.
Molly Fitzgibbon, a senior English major and the show’s director, said the location was not as “perfect” as Blackman Auditorium, but the crews were able to make the best of it through support from the Budget Review Committee (BRC). The BRC supported their special needs, she said, by building an adequate stage and sourcing separate lighting and sound.
A rendition of the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea,” “Once Upon a Mattress” rewrote the usual understanding of fairy tales with some sexual innuendo and classic jokes. A highlight came during the “Man-to-Man Talk” between the King and Dauntless, on how a “bee” stings its “flower,” a metaphor to explain having sex with the princess.
The theme of good-versus-evil, a norm in fairy tales, also proved a favorite among the audience. When the evil Queen was preparing her test for Princess Winifred, many in the audience laughed and clapped for the “Spanish Panic” dance.
The audience laughed from the beginning of the show to the end and the cast made few mistakes in the two-hour performance. Sound, however, proved a slight problem.
A technical problem with the sound system caused several disruptions during the performance. But overall the show ran smoothly with rounds of applause from the audience at the end of each scene.
“Brilliant!” said Vanessa Muller, who came from Washington, D.C. to support her brother, Nicholas, in the show. “It is hard for me to pick a scene that I like best. It’s really funny.”
Matt Russo, a sophomore biology major, was also a fan.
“It’s funny and the songs are well sung,” he said.
For some audience members, however, the cast was the highlight.
“It’s really a kind of show that the cast and the crew get together and work for the best,” said Katie Crouch, a freshman international affairs major. “All of it was good.”
In addition to family and friends, teaching staff also came to support the group.
“It’s a great show,” said Alan Dugan, a philosophy professor. “I learned about it from an advertisement and I had watched it before, but I liked the performance this time.”
After the show, Karpathakis seemed pleased.
“Northeastern loves humor,” he said.
After “Once Upon a Mattress,” The Great White Way’s next task is to prepare for auditions for their next show “Urine Town,” a dark science-fiction comedy about people from the future who suffer from water shortages. The auditions begin this week.
