Central Junior High to perform 'Once Upon a Mattress'

On a recent Monday afternoon, Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School director Mike Dumey is in the school's auditorium, running the cast of the musical comedy "Once Upon a Mattress" through its paces. In the background, power tools whine as work continues on the elaborate set, which will include 20 mattresses, a medieval castle and a 40-foot-by-12-foot skyline with clouds.

This will be the 22nd production at the junior high. Unique aspects of the full-fledged Broadway production are its cast of 150 students and involvement of the school, community and parents all coming together to provide everything from rides for students for rehearsals to marketing, selling tickets and helping with costumes.

"That's one thing I'm very proud of every year," Dumey said.

He added the school was given access to Southeast Missouri State University's costume vault and madrigal feast attire from Central High School.

Often staged by high schools and colleges, Dumey said, "Once Upon a Mattress" is a musical version of "The Princess and the Pea." The queen, Aggravain, has a young son, Prince Dauntless, and has no intention of ever letting him get married.

Jeffery Bittle, 12, performs as Jester during rehearsal Tuesday for the Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School production of “Once Upon a Mattress.” (Adam Vogler)

So the queen creates impossible tests for the princesses to pass. They run out of princesses, and finally someone brings to the court the Princess of the Swamp, who, Dumey said, is not the usual Snow White or Cinderella. The queen decides to give the princess a sensitivity test by placing a pea within 20 mattresses to see if she can feel it, and with a little finessing, she does.

"She's like a real red-neck princess," Dumey said. "The children are just doing a great job of bringing across the humor of the play."

The play also is known for launching actress/comedian Carol Burnett's career, he said, but that offers an interesting challenge because the children don't know who she is so there's no point of reference like there may be with "Annie."

"With some shows, we have to do a little bit more of a sales job," Dumey said. "They're really, really enjoying participating in this play. It's really coming together nicely and it's cool to see them getting excited as opening day draws near."

Drew Kasten, 14, performs as Princess Winifred during rehearsal Tuesday for the Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School production of “Once Upon a Mattress.” (Adam Vogler)

Showtime is 7 p.m. March 20 through 22 in the Central Junior High School auditorium. Tickets are $8 and $10 and are available by calling 837-8940.

Meanwhile, Dumey said, it's a balancing act to have ample preparation time, since 150 children "can't just live and breathe this for four to six weeks."

The cast is so large because it's a class -- divided into six sections of 20 to 30 students -- where students can learn songs and dance moves for the upcoming production. The first semester, students studied the fundamentals of singing and presented a fall concert during which they performed a couple of songs in foreign languages, a Renaissance piece and Big Band-era music to expose students to music they might not normally listen to, Dumey said.

Second semester, students not only study Broadway musical theater, they perform it.

"It's one thing to talk about it and listen to songs, and it's another to implement a full-scale Broadway musical. It's a very hands-on approach to understanding what it takes," Dumey said.

Given the number of students involved, rehearsal times are usually staggered, with the main actors usually putting in more time. Dumey added he's fortunate to have 150 children who want to take his elective "and want to do Broadway musical theater in this day and age of One Direction and Taylor Swift. It's pretty amazing that they're up there singing real Broadway literature, and not only singing it, but having a blast doing it," he said.

Drew Kasten, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, plays the princess.

"I really like it because it has all the comedy in it and it has a lot of good songs," Kasten said.

Kasten, a cheerleader who has taken dance since she was 3 and also performs violin recitals, said she's kind of like her character, as well.

"She's really laid back and I am, too. I'm not real proper like a real princess," she said.

Carson Retter, also a 14-year-old eighth-grader, plays Prince Dauntless.

"I think it's a play that's definitely different from what he's [Dumey] done before because not a whole lot of people have heard about it. But I think it'll be fun and it'll be a good play. ... It's definitely an experience; it's really cool. If I had the chance, I'd do the same thing over again. It gets a little chaotic, though," Retter said.

Justin Tuschhoff plays the king, who is mute. The 13-year-old eighth-grader said he's had to adjust to the large production, and he's enjoying himself.

" ... It's really fun to play because he says everything through pantomime," Tuschhoff said. "It's kind of weird because you're not used to saying everything through your hands. He's funny and I like that because I like to be funny.

"I've never been big on learning other languages, but this is just like sign language. It's like I get to invent my own little world of language. ... It's really fun to help everyone else interpret what I'm doing, and it's just a blast," he said.

Costume director Pat Renard is in charge of 150 students' costumes, which Dumey said means she's responsible for "making or figuring out" 175 outfits.

This production, Renard said, is different because the school has been able to borrow costumes.

"So my job this year, instead of making a lot of things ... like one year we cut out 140 nun outfits and dressed nuns for 'The Sound of Music,' but this year it's getting what we have and then altering and changing to get them to fit the students," she said. "We've never had this much altering before, so that's a little bit different this year," said Renard, who has been involved in costuming for 22 years.

Between fittings and alterings, Renard said she's viewed a few rehearsals of "Once Upon a Mattress."

"They're going very well. It always looks like it'll never happen, but it always does," she said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

205 Caruthers Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Want to go?

What: "Once Upon a Mattress"

When: 7 p.m. March 20 through 22

Where: Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School auditorium

Tickets: $8 and $10; available by calling 837-8940.