In a satirical retelling of The Princess and the Pea, a brassy, unconventional princess from the swamplands arrives to win the heart of a timid prince, but she must first survive an impossible sensitivity test engineered by his overbearing mother.

Super cute community production of “Once Upon a Mattress” in north central Minnesota, where they have a little volunteer company that puts on one show a year. What was particularly fun about this is that it was completely apparent from every part of the show—the acting, the staging, the blocking, the choreo, the costumes—that they were working from a bootleg of the recent Broadway production. Resourceful! And they did a great job with it. (The lead, a rising senior in neuroscience at UM-Duluth, was doing an uncanny Sutton impression: line reads, mannerisms, and all.) I can’t imagine anyone else noticed, so it felt like a little in-joke between me and them. Me and my parents had a great time.