Baldwin High School set to perform 'Once Upon a Mattress' live

Baldwin High School is set to perform its spring musical – in person – later this month.

The cast of around 34 students will perform “Once Upon a Mattress,” a musical comedy with lyrics by Marshall Barer and music by Mary Rodgers. Joe Joyce, the school’s newly-hired musical director and choreographer, described it as the fractured fairy tales segment on the classic cartoon “Rocky & Bullwinkle.”

“It’s basically a ‘Saturday Night Live’ version of ‘The Princess and the Pea,’” Joyce said.

The musical will premier on April 22 at the high school’s auditorium, with a senior preview show at 1 p.m. on April 18. Tickets are $12.

In the musical, the princess of an unhappy kingdom is unable to sleep on a bed of many mattresses because of a tiny pea, which is placed underneath the bottom mattress.

Students have been rehearsing since the second week of January under “extremely covid-aware” conditions, Joyce said. He said the students have their temperatures taken before rehearsal and they are all masked. When the students began choreography, Joyce said they wore gloves because of the close interaction, however that rule was lifted recently, he said.

Joyce, 63, is originally from Brookline, but has lived and worked in theater in New York City for the last several decades. He now lives in Mt. Lebanon.

Joyce replaced Jason Coll, who retired recently after years as its musical director and drama club sponsor.

Joyce knows he has big shoes to fill.

“They’ve had quite a reputation for the last 10 to 12 years,” he said.

Coll earned the school’s theater program two “best in shows” from the Gene Kelly Awards and Kris Kranter, who served before Coll, also snagged two of those during his tenure in the early 2000s.

“The high school has a great tradition and history of great musical performances,” said Jim Nowalk, president of the Baldwin-Whitehall Friends of the Theater Arts. “It’s continuing now with (Joyce).”

Nowalk, who also serves as Whitehall’s mayor, has served as the group’s president since its founding in 2004. The organization supports students in fundraising for performances and offers two $1,000 scholarships to students involved in the program moving on to college.

“I’m very excited about the fact that it will be a live performance this year,” he said. “I think, in many respects, the community is seeking for social engagement that we have lost. This is an opportunity to bring people together and obviously, we’re going to observe (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines.”

Students will perform in masks that are transparent, Joyce said.

“That way, we can all see important emotions on faces but also keep students safe,” he said.

Joyce said he’s excited to let students hear live reactions from an audience while performing.

“I’m especially excited for seniors. Unfortunately, they’ve had so much taken from them this last year, with no prom and other things seniors typically get to do. They have really worked hard over these last few months,” he said.

He is excited for a surprise he has coming for the students performing, courtesy of his connections on Broadway. The students will also be wearing costumes worn in the musical’s 1996 Broadway revival, thanks to those connections. The wardrobe will come out of Costume World in Boca Raton, Fla.

Musical dates include April 18, 22-24, 29-30 and May 1.

For more information, visit bwschools.net.