MTW's Reiner Staged Reading Series presents ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

Musical Theatre West's (MTW) Reiner Staged Reading Series (RRS) returns with Once Upon a Mattress, on Sunday, November 19, 7pm at the Beverly O'Neill Theater. Tickets are now on sale at the MTW Ticket Office, by calling (562) 856-1999, ext. 4, or by visiting the MTW website at www.musical.org. Advance general admission tickets for each performance are $27 ($32 on the day of the performance). Seating is general admission, with priority access for Reiner Staged Reading Subscribers.

The Reiner Staged Readings are presented concert style, a bit like radio theatre. Using minimal sets and costumes, but featuring the full script and score with a live orchestra (provided by Los Angeles Musicians Collective), RRS performances are the perfect way to celebrate the entire spectrum of musical theatre, while discovering some new favorite songs and shows.

If you think you know the story of "The Princess and the Pea," you may be in for a walloping surprise! In a small medieval kingdom, mama's boy, Prince Dauntless, is looking for a bride. Queen Aggravain has declared no one may marry until Dauntless is wed, so the entire kingdom is rooting for the latest candidate: a horribly shy, lute-playing, moat-swimming, dark horse named Winnifred. Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar tale of royal courtship and comeuppance provides for some side-splitting shenanigans. Chances are you'll never look at fairy tales quite the same way again.

Once Upon a Mattress is directed by Daniel Smith (MTW: Carousel, RRS: Pal Joey, Steel Pier) with music direction by Julie Lamoureux (MTW: M. Fair Lady, RRS: The Most Happy Fella, Amour) and stars theatre veterans and RRS favorites, Jennifer Strattan (RRS: Fiorello!, As Thousands Cheer) as Princess Winnifred; Daniel Dawson (Regional: Spamalot, Frozen) as Prince Dauntless; Madison Claire Parks (RRS: Kismet, How to Succeed..., Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks) as Lady Larkin; Caleb Shaw (RRS: Kismet, Regional: Frozen) as Sir Harry; Roger Castellano (Regional: La Cage Aux Folles, My One and Only) as The Jester, William Martinez (RRS: Kismet, City of Angels) as The Minstrel, and Doug Carfrae (MTW: Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Las Vegas: The Phantom of the Opera) as The Wizard. The cast also stars Robert Towers (RRS: Sugar, Li'l Abner, TV: "Will and Grace") as King Sextimus and Tracy Lore (RRS: Legs Diamond, Steel Pier, National Tour: Peter Pan) as Queen Aggravain.

The Reiner Staged Reading Series is produced by Michael Betts and Gabriel Kalomas and is made possible by a generous donation from Ken & Dottie Reiner with additional funding provided by The Ackerman Family/Evalyn M. Bauer Foundations, Kathy Baker Campbell, Pat & Janice DeRouen, and Ken & Cheryl Simpson.

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