Once Upon a Mattress

42nd Street Moon, San Francisco’s only theatre company dedicated to presenting “lost musicals,” presents special guest star Lea DeLaria (Broadway’s On the Town and The Rocky Horror Show; The Vagina Monologues; and the national tour of Chicago) in Once Upon a Mattress. In this classic Broadway retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea, DeLaria brings her own musical comedy panache to the role of Princess Winifred the Woebegone, a role originated by Carol Burnett. With the whole kingdom rooting for her, “Fred” must swim moats, endure all-night dance-a-thons, and feel a pea through 20 mattresses in order to impress the highly discriminating Queen and win the hand of her Prince Dauntless.

Nominated for Tony Awards for Best Musical in 1960 and Best Revival of a Musical in 1997, this musical delight features the Mary Rodgers/ Marshall Barer songs “Shy,” “Happily Ever After,” “Many Moons Ago,” “In a Little While,” and “Yesterday I Loved You.”