About Once Upon a Mattress...
Once Upon a Mattress (based on the famous fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea) centers around Prince Dauntless the Drab whose mother, Queen Aggravain, seeking to keep the boy to herself, has decreed that he shall wed only a true princess of royal blood. She has also decreed that no one in the Kingdom may wed until Prince Dauntless is married. The kingdom is an unhappy one. King Sextimus has been struck dumb by a witch's curse and is condemned not to speak again until "the mouse devours the hawk!"
As the show opens, the Queen is testing the eligibility of the 12th princess applicant. She quickly joins the ranks of the others that have failed the Queen's seemingly impossible tests. Soon after, Sir Harry discoveres that an intimate evening with Lady Larkin had an unexpected result... she's pregnant! Since they cannot marry until Prince Dauntless is wed, Sir Harry sets out on a mission to bring home a genuine princess.
When Princess Winnifred ("Fred" to her friends) arrives—dripping wet from having just swam the moat—and declares herself a contender for the Prince's hand, the Queen devises her most clever test to date to determine whether the self-proclaimed princess is worthy of her son... a genuine princess would be unable to sleep on a bed of many mattresses when a tiny pea is placed underneath the bottom mattress. Miraculously, Princess Winnifred passes the test... with a little help from the members of the kingdom.
And they all live happily, happily, happily ever after!
