December 14, 2024
We get national tours that come through Los Angeles that are great, but the caliber of this show is next level. Even with the excessive number of small whiny children in our section, I still enjoyed this. And that is saying something, because nothing ruins my mood faster than a whiny child who is clearly too young to be seeing a show meant for adults. Once Upon A Mattress is mostly family friendly. There is a scene where the mute king explains the facts of life to the prince, but I’m sure that went over most of the kids’ heads. I’m always amused to see parents bringing kids to things they think will be okay but really aren’t, like Into The Woods.
I have seen Sutton Foster a few times and knew I wanted to see this as soon as I heard she was starring. She was of course fantastic – her comedic timing would make Carol Burnett proud – but the entire cast was superb. Ana Gasteyer was the perfect queen. Michael Urie was a wonderful Prince Dauntless. Everyone – just great!
Tips for the Ahmanson: There are 3 venues located in the Music Center: the Dorothy Chandler, the Mark Taper and the Ahmanson. If you park in the north side of the lot, there is an escalator that pops up right next to the Ahmanson, but you often don’t have a choice of where to park. If you go down as far as level 8, the next step is to go under Grand Avenue and park underneath Grand Park. Then you have to trudge across the street and that’s pretty much all uphill, so if you’re wearing heels, good luck. My advice is get there early. And by early, I mean L.A. early. You know when you put in your desired arrival time and Google Maps comes back with an estimated drive time of 30 minutes to 2 hours? Don’t leave 30 minutes before showtime. Load the map 2 hours before to see how it’s looking. If there is a giant line of cars waiting to turn into the parking lot, you can almost always go past them and enter at the next parking entrance. You may end up under the Dorothy Chandler instead of under the Ahmanson, but it’s all one lot and once you’re above ground it’s easy enough to get where you want to go. Tip number 2: always go back the same way you came from the parking lot. It is a very easy parking lot to get lost in. I’ve done it.
If you decide to bring a small child with you, please understand that you might need to leave and miss the show if your kid cannot behave appropriately in this setting and please TAKE YOUR KID out of the theater if they are disrupting the other audience members. If you suspect your kid won’t be able to see, ask an usher for a booster cushion (and then don’t slam the cushion into everyone you pass on your way to your seat). Maybe try taking your kid to children’s productions to see how they do in a theater setting before you take on the Ahmanson. My daughter saw her first national tour at age 6. It was Oklahoma! which she listened to every night to at bedtime. 45 seconds into the overture, she turned to me and said, “Mom, I’m TIRED.” Then she curled up and went to sleep. She didn’t bother anyone so it was fine, but she could have slept at home for free rather than curled up in a $65 seat. We stuck to kids shows for a while after that.
I mentioned to Julie that there’s a $20 lottery for seats in the first 2 rows and asked if I should try for them. She said she would absolutely see it again and since we were halfway up the balcony, it would be nice to see it from up close. So keep your fingers crossed for us. There are also rush tickets available (both the lottery and rush are on Today Tix). So go see this show!