"Once Upon a Mattress" is a delightful musical. It is, however not big enough to be made into a film, so a television version would be a perfect solution. In fact, it was the perfect solution in two earlier versions, both of which starred Carol Burnett, who created the role of Princess Winnifred in the original Off-Broadway and Broadway productions. however, both of those versions were abridged and differed from the script slightly, so the third version would have been the perfect opportunity to remain faithful to the stage script,
this is sadly one of the films shortcomings. A substantial amount of the score is dropped, not to mention some curious script alterations, such as lady larkin being sent to the dungeon, and the character of the minstrel is dropped.
On top of that, the cast is a mixed blessing. Carol Burnett is delightful, using her trademark comedy to the best of her abilities, beautifully hamming it up. taking on Burnett's role is Tracy Ullman ("Hairspray"'s Marissa Jaret Winokour was originally considered, but she turned it down). On the whole, Ullman is a good choice for the role, charming but still not an obvious bride for a prince. Ullman's comedy is adept and her singing is good, but on the whole one can't help but think she is a but mature for the role. The same goes for Dennis O'Hare as Prince Dauntless, his over the top performance somewhat schticky. Matthew Morrison is charming as sir harry, and Zooey Deschanel is appealing as Lady Larkin, even if she is a bit too contemporary for the role.
Still, after ABC's wonderful remakes of "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Annie", one can't help but feel that they could have done better.
