It’s that time of year when the Abu Dhabi Choral Group (ADCG) is back with another musical. Those who have previously seen their Beauty and the Beast and Urinetown will know what a treat is in store. Their next musical promises to be a hilarious, slightly skewed retelling of the classic fairytale The Princess and the Pea. After five months of rehearsals, and in the run up to the show, we caught up with director Shera-Lea Saunders and actor David Nunn, to ask them about Once Upon a Mattress.
Shera, you preformed in Beauty and the Beast and Urinetown before, how did it transpire that you’re now in the director’s seat?
This is actually my second time directing. I co-directed last year for Urinetown. At ADCG we have a group of singers, more than anything else. They’re not really actors per se. So what a director might say to an actor and what a director might say to a singer tend to be different things. So last year I found myself translating what the director was telling them into something they could use.
Ah, so you started showing off that you had other skills and when people noticed you had to step up and take command.
[Laughs] Yeah that’s what I do. I show off. It’s true.
Can you tell us about Once Upon a Mattress?
I wouldn’t say it’s farcical, but more of an adult version of the original tale. It was originally written as an adult summer camp musical that got picked up by some old Broadway alumnus who re-wrote it. It was a trio of writers; Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer. In this show we have the overbearing queen demanding that the princess be tested, the prince is nothing but a mindless jelly-fish, and the princess who shows up at their door is as un-princess-like as you can imagine.
Sounds fun. And you have a cast of 32, are there many new faces or is it all the usual suspects?
There’s quite an even split. Quite a few of the leads from last year are also leads this year, but our main lady, who is in the role of the princess, is a new-comer.
David, you’re a familiar face. You played the father of the leading lady last year, and the year before you were Belle’s father, right?
That’s right. I’ve been doing this for the last three years now. This is my fourth show with the group.
Who are you playing this time?
I’m a wizard, which means unfortunately I don’t get to sing much this year. It’s more of an acting role than a singing role.
And for people who’ve never seen you guys perform before, what would you tell them to expect?
Well I’d like to say to them what people who have been in the audience over the past couple of years have said to me. They’ve said, ‘Wow! It’s almost professional.’ They said it was completely unexpected in terms of the scale, the color and the energy of the performance. And that we manage with fairly scarce resources. The most important thing is that we enjoy ourselves on the stage, we have fun.
That’s the important thing, isn’t it? When the chemistry on stage is right, when you’re enjoying yourselves, the audience will too.
Absolutely. That’s why we like to make it funny, if it’s to be funny or humorous, because that means having fun and getting a kick out of it on the stage, and that communicates itself to the audience.
And is your character comical?
I’m trying to make him comical. And he’s comical in the sense that I have to follow the queen around all the time and she makes me do silly things.
Yeah? Have you got a big, pointy wizard’s hat?
[Laughs] Sadly not. I’m going to have a cap.
Once Upon a Mattress will be showing between May 31-June 2 at Brighton College, Khalifa Park. For more information vist www.abudhabichoralgroup.com.
