Once Upon a Mattress

Disney presented a TV version of the above musical on ABC last night, and although I didn't care for a lot of it, it exposed a lot of new people to that musical, and for that I'm thankful.

My biggest beef with the production is that it was cleaned up. The original musical was a fairy tale about sex, and its incidental cousins, marriage and pregnancy. It was chock full of double (and sometimes single) entendres. Disneyfied, this version is just about marriage and pregnancy.

Due to time and plot restraints, some great songs and characters were cut. "Very Soft Shoes," and "Jester, Minstrel and I" fell under the axe, as did the entire character of the minstrel.

Tracy Ullman played the lead, and did fine, but she's no Sarah Jessica Parker or Carol Burnett, who herself played the role of the queen. Tom Smothers was the king, which was choice casting.

Even though toned down, the book revisions were still quite funny. There was as much dance as was required by the plot, and not too much more, which demonstrates some admirable restraint on the part of the director, a choreographer.

In short, don't be tempted by the DVD of this production. Instead, go with the cast recording of the '90s revival with a post-L.A. Story, pre-Sex in the City Parker.