All Upon the Mattress: Chenery Students Bring Broadway to Belmont

On February 4, the stage at Belmont's Chenery Middle School was empty and the approximately 120 students were about to have "Mr. Haywood" tell them about a musical they were "hoping" to stage.

After four and five rehearsals a week that involved countless hours of learning songs, acting and remembering dance routines, this week those same students are back on the stage, now as an ensemble ready to perform the classic musical, "Once Upon a Mattress." 

The final two productions of the Mary Rogers adaptation of the fairy tale will take place tonight, Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 4, also at 7 p.m. at the Chenery Middle School's auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and can be purchased at the door or online. 

"Eleven weeks is an extraordinary short period of time to put on a show," said Nate Haywood, who is in his first full year teaching music and chorus at the Chenery. 

The Belmont resident who graduated from Gordon College in 2010, Harwood has been particularly busy spring, not just with putting together a production together involving a hoard of preteens – many who are on stage for the first time – but also preparing to perform himself next week in the Riverside Theatre Works' production of "Hairspray."

For this middle school show, any 7th and 8th graders who come out for the show are given a part while 6th graders are allowed to audition. 

Students then attended workshops before auditioning, "and then, away we went." 

The first weeks were strictly learning the music, led by the production's musical director, Chenery teacher Megan Harlow, "because they can't teach the dance steps until they understood the songs." said Harlow. The show's choreographer is another Chenery teacher Monica Frender.

"Then we slowly and surely brought it all together into the show," he said.

"It's been an amazing and humbling experience to have 80 students on stage and 40 backstage as [technical workers] investing themselves into the theater," said Harwood, 

Isabelle Luongo is Princess Winnifred – the role made famous by the original Winnifred, Carol Burnett – and Owen Pickette is Prince Dauntless in Haywood's production, his first at the Chenery. But this is not a "star"-driven show, he said.

"We find a part of everyone and say they are successful in the roles they play. We don't use the terms 'principles' or 'leads'; in middle school, all the kids have important roles to play," Harwood said.