K-State's Music and Theater and Dance Departments presented the opening performance of "Once Upon a Mattress," a two-act musical comedy based on "The Princess and the Pea," Wednesday night.

The vivid, gaudy costumes and brisk, slightly jazzy musical sets moved the event along at a pace that captivated the audience for the entire two-and-a-half hour performance.

"There was a lot of differentiality between the characters," said Hunter Kastner, junior at Manhattan High School. "The costumes were really flashy. They kept my attention."

In the play, the overbearing Queen Aggravain poses impossible tests for princesses who visit the court with hopes of marrying her young son, Prince Dauntless.

"A princess should be delicate," sang the minstrel, played by Anthony Francisco.

But the star princess proves to be anything but delicate. Led by a knight of Aggravain's court, Princess Winnifred travels far and wide, through "badlands," even swimming through a moat, to meet the prince.

Folksy and plucky, Winnifred drinks, dances, wrestles, and even lifts a "537-stone" barbell. Everyone warms to Winnifred except Queen Aggravain.

"I liked how the princess was ditzy and crazy," said Logan Barnes, sophomore at Manhattan High School.

Decked out like a Disney villainess and speaking with a haughty edge to her voice, Aggravain comes up with a way to show that Winnifred is -- wait for it -- not dainty enough to be a princess.

"It was a very heavy, restricting costume, but the whole part ended up being really fun," said Olivia Marsh, who played the role of Aggravain.

Wacky hijinks ensued, complete with massive musical sets and tongue-in-cheek bawdiness.

"It reminds me of Family Guy. It looks like a cartoon, but there's so much more behind it," said Amanda Barker, freshman in fine arts.

The play was written to work on two levels, explained director R. Michael Gros, an assistant theater professor. "Part of the story is played for a young audience. Part of it is played for the adults watching in the room with them."

The 15-member cast ran the gamut from freshmen to grad students, Gros said. The authors of the play, adapted from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, created a "zany situation" that the actors must play with straight faces, Gros said.

"I loved it," said Ryan Robinson, junior in accounting. "It was colorful. It was funny and upbeat. You could smile the whole time."