In 1959, two as-yet-untested stars made their Broadway debuts: Mary Rodgers, with a gorgeous score that put her on the map, and Carol Burnett, in her first stage role as the brassy, loveable Princess Winifred the Woebegone—or “Fred” to her friends. More than six decades later, musical theater legend Sutton Foster (The Music Man) returns to the City Center stage alongside an all-star creative team to recapture that same infectious energy and joy.
Led by Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet (Into the Woods, Lionel Bart’s Oliver!) and with a new concert adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Once Upon a Mattress sets an unapologetic free spirit loose in a repressed kingdom, reveling in Fred’s ability to charm and transform with willpower, honesty, and a little bit of help from her friends. Full of gloriously catchy melodies like “Shy” and “In a Little While,” this uproarious update of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea” promises both classic charms and new delights.
But, unlike the early concerts in the series, it would be hard to argue that the acting and dancing play second (or eighth) fiddle. None of the lead actors read from the scripts on music stands; they are fully costumed, they and the ensemble are fully choreographed. Encores no longer sees its primary mission as offering a second listen to long-dormant musicals with great scores and poor books. One now suspects that the producers are always hoping for a Broadway transfer, such as happened, most spectacularly, with “Chicago.” Even officially, as its page on the City Center website puts it, “This series of concert stagings revisits the archives of American musical theater…spotlighting the vocal talents of star-studded ensembles.” It’s hard to complain when the vocal talent is so abundant, as in “Once Upon A Mattress,” and it’s matched by so much comic talent.
Foster’s glee in taking possession of the stage creates an all-encompassing manic energy that both the audience and her scene partners feed off. Prime among them are the archly imperial Harriet Harris (Foster’s co-star in “Thoroughly Modern Millie”) as Queen Aggravain and Michael Urie as her son, the bumbling Prince Dauntless — not the sharpest halberd in the castle, but still smart enough to become endearingly smitten with a shaggy princess who goes by Fred.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Encores! Concert Revival Production Off-Broadway |
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