Queen Aggravain is in no hurry to find a bride for her son, Prince Dauntless. To ensure that nobody steals the heart of her boy, the Queen creates impossible tests for the woman who would be his princess in “Once Upon a Mattress,” based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea.”
Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre is presenting the musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer, March 11-May 1.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, and 7 p.m. Sundays.
Sonia Goldberg plays Princess Winnifred, who seems to be a very unlikely candidate for the prince’s future bride.
“Winnifred is extraordinarily sincere and bold and clearheaded, and kind,” Goldberg said. “And very straightforward.”
That sounds like she’d make a great addition to any kingdom. The problem is that “She is someone who is perpetually out-of-place but not at all discouraged by that,” Goldberg explained. “She’s constantly trying to find — not necessarily people who are like her — but people who appreciate and enjoy her for who she is.”
She doesn’t fit the usual perception of a princess as being petite and demure. “Winnifred is very loud and direct,” Goldberg noted. “She is feminine but she does not defer to anyone.”
The actor said that Winnifred quickly picks up on the fact that Queen Aggravain “is not kind — or sane,” Goldberg laughed.
Goldberg particularly enjoys singing, “Happily Ever After.” “It’s so sappy and fun,” she explained.
Anne Sheridan Smith has never played a queen before but Queen Aggravain is one-of-a-kind, anyway. The actor noted that her name says it all.
“She has a lot of attachment to her power,” Sheridan Smith said. “I believe she feels that the idea of her son marrying is a threat to her power. So she is doing what she can to protect it. She’s also possessive of her son and his love and his trust and his confidence. She’s battling her power as a mother and her power as a ruler of the kingdom.”
Her first reaction to Winnifred is “absolute disgust and confusion,” Sheridan Smith said. “How does this person even consider themselves a woman, let alone a princess?”
That issue is one of the things that the actor appreciates in this show. “There’s so much questioning of gender roles,” Sheridan Smith said. “It’s a very relevant question.”
She observed that Prince Dauntless doesn’t fit the usual stereotype of men and their roles.
Playing her first royal role is fun for the actor because she is enjoying the chance to “dig into her train of thought — her stream of consciousness. She is paranoid. It’s fun to watch her struggle and watch her attempt to manipulate and maneuver.”
Sheridan Smith also particularly enjoys “Happily Ever After,” calling it “a clever, funny song that sounds really cool.”
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Directing the production is Landree Fleming, who has played lead roles in musical comedies, does standup comedy, and performs with a musical sketch comedy group, in addition to directing.
“I think comedy brings us all together,” Fleming said. She wanted to direct this comedy because, “I love the humor. I love that it’s a show full of characters.”
When she took on this project, the director said, she decided not to edit herself but to treat it the way she treats her own comedy performances.
“Whatever my gut finds the funniest is a great direction to go in,” she said. “Whatever I thought was funny, I got other people to do.”
This project is especially fun for the director who said, “I love collaborating with people. I love the creative process. Getting to laugh with so many people is a blast.”
The production isn’t without a directing challenge, though. Because the performing space is almost in-the-round, Fleming said, “It provides a challenge to make sure that everyone in the audience gets a good show.”
Actor Goldberg praised the opening number. “The way that the ensemble sprawls out into the audience and gets them involved and with everyone singing their faces off, it’s immersive and its goose bumps,” she said. “I think it’s going to blow people’s socks off.”
Sheridan Smith is impressed with the way that Fleming is “celebrating that feminism can be more than stereotyped. It’s really empowering.”
She is also impressed by the diversity of the cast. “A large number of our cast members are gender expansive — nonbinary, transgender,” she said. “I feel it’s just the right fit to tell this story.”
Fleming said, “There’s no point in doing a show anymore that doesn’t represent everyone.”
Fleming is convinced that this production will be a unique version of “Once Upon a Mattress.”
“We come at the material with who we are and what we find funny,” Fleming said. “We don’t let previous productions define what this production should be.”
‘Once Upon a Mattress’
When: March 11-May 1
Where: Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard St., Evanston
Tickets: $42-$54; $35 for previews March 11-20; $29 more for three-course dinner
Information: 773-939-4101; theo-u.com/once-upon-a-mattress
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.