VIDEO PROFILE: ONCE UPON A MATTRESS' John 'Lypsinka' Epperson's Three Decades of Mouthing Off

You'll understand if the first reaction you hear from older denizens of New York's downtown scene whenever it's announced that John Epperson will be doing a play or a musical is, "Will he be speaking his own lines?"

Though the actor, pianist, vocalist and playwright certainly spoke (and sang) his own lines when playing Cinderella's step-mother at New York City Opera, and we can assume he'll be doing the same for his upcoming gig as Queen Aggravain opposite Jackie Hoffman's Princess Winnifred in Transport Group's revival of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, the versatile Epperson first burst onto the scene in the late 1980s as Lypsinka, a vintage character of his own creation that combined the chicest qualities of golden age film stars like Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis and Betty Hutton.

Not simply lip-syncing to recordings, a Lypsinka performance is set to a carefully edited collage of audio clips from classic movie moments that create a maniacal solo drama of operatic proportions. And they're really funny, too.

At first Lypsinka was seen primarily at gay nightclubs and underground venues.

But as the character's popularity grew, Epperson began creating full-length theatre pieces for his diva, such as LYPSINKA: THE BOXED SET and AS I LAY LIP-SYNCHING.

Epperson's big break came when Charles Busch pegged him to give late-night shows after performances of his Off-Broadway hit, VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM. Appearing with Busch in HBO's documentary, DRAGTIME, he spoke of how Lypsinka is an expression of individuality he was told to keep hidden while growing up.

Transport Group presents Once Upon a Mattress, starring Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Difficult People, Hairspray) as Princess Winnifred and John "Lypsinka"Epperson (Lypsinka's The Boxed Set, The Passion of the Crawford) as Queen Aggravain. The production, which is directed by five-time Drama Desk Award nominee Jack Cummings III, features Jessica Fontana (Cinderella) as Lady Larken, David Greenspan (The Patsy) as The King,Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music) as The Minstrel, Cory Lingner (On the Town) as The Jester, Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart) as Sir Harry, Jay Rogers (Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly) as The Wizard, and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Things to Ruin) as Prince Dauntless, with Vivienne Cleary, Richard Costa, Michael De Souza,Tim Dolan, Jack Donahue,Amy Griffin, Sarah Killough, Kristen Michelle, Ali Reed,and Doug Shapiro.

The raucous musical fairy tale Once Upon A Mattress stars the formidable Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Xanadu, Difficult People) and the inimitable John "Lypsinka" Epperson (Lypsinka's The Boxed Set, The Passion of the Crawford). During a kingdom-wide search to find a princess fit for the hapless Prince Dauntless, in swims the less-than-regal Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Hoffman). Unrefined and undeniably charming, Winnifred is like no princess Dauntless has ever seen and his heart is captured. The truly terrible Queen Aggravain (Epperson) goes on a mission to come between her son and his soulmate in this retelling of the classic story of "The Princess and the Pea." This is a Happily-Ever-After like no other!

Once Upon a Mattress has music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Marshall Barer and a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer.