In the original production of Once Upon a Mattress back in 1959, the consummate clown Carol Burnett became an established star. In this year’s revival, first at Encores! and now at Broadway’s Hudson Theater, the established star Sutton Foster is revealed as a consummate clown. There were always hints of her inner farceuse, most notably in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), when as stage star Janet Van De Graaff she demonstrated every talent known in The Biz while insisting “I don’t want to show off.” But under Lear deBessonet’s direction she pulls out every farcical stop, and her delight in showing off is palpable. Amidst a sea of comedic talents, she stands first among equals, and my jaw is still aching from smiling.
This medieval vaudeville has long been the gateway drug for generations of kids who’ve gone from school productions to become full-fledged theater geeks. Librettists Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer saw in the classic yarn of “The Princess and the Pea” the basis for both a sassy parody of fairy-tale tropes, and a touching tale of pairs of true lovers finding each other against all odds. (Some light adaptation from Gilmore Girls’ Amy Sherman-Palladino tightens things up with some new gags.) With opportunities for every member of the ensemble to shine, and a sprightly, toe-tapper of a score from Mary Rodgers (music) and Barer (lyrics), Once Upon a Mattress has gotten familiar but never gets old; and if it ever felt tarnished, Foster and Co. do a lot to bring the luster back.
[Read Steven Suskin’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
In the star’s tour de force as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone from the dank marshes of the north, spindly-limbed and ready for action, you can sense loving hommages to comics of the past. Emerging from a moat to the shock of the court of wicked Queen Aggravain (Ana Gasteyer), the detritus that drops from her soggy smock is a reminder of burglar Harpo Marx’s loot endlessly crashing to the floor. (“I can’t imagine what’s keeping that coffee pot,” ad-libbed Groucho….klunk.) The hungry princess scarfing down a gallon of grapes evokes Lucy Ricardo on the chocolates’ conveyor belt. And when the mood strikes her, she breaks the fourth wall to toss flowers and more to delighted spectators, exactly the way I saw Danny Kaye do in Two By Two (not to mention Dame Edna). None of this is to suggest theft on Foster’s part. Staunchly in the commedia tradition, she makes every bit of lazzi her very own.
It helps that she’s got a great partner. As her intended Prince Dauntless, Michael Urie not only manages to stay wide-eyed and breathless for two solid hours – no mean feat, that – but he’s able to pull off a cringing-at-mama act while protecting the potential to come into his own at the end, which he does, most royally. He’s a hoot with no trace of the cutes, always a danger in that role.
Knowing that a vaudeville must also be a variety show, deBessonet has cast Nikki Renée Daniels and Will Chase as her romantic leads, thus ensuring killer voices with comic chops to match. The suave Daniel Breaker (Passing Strange) pulls off his narrator function with grace and charm, with the always-welcome Brooks Ashmanskas as a feckless Wizard in over his head. The entire ensemble exudes endless verve, clad in Andrea Hood’s primary-color medieval duds as if they all jumped out of a tapestry. It’s all good enough to eat, sez I. Moms and dads, you can safely take the kids, and you’ll have every bit as good a time as they will.
Is there anything to regret in this knock-‘em-out-with-boffo-laughs approach? Maybe a little. Foster bursts in with all the optimistic energy of a field hockey team captain; she is in no way woebegone (notwithstanding her title) and never truly vulnerable, so some poignancy moments are sacrificed. For her part Gasteyer, suitably Maleficent-like in her appearance, never quite commands her terrain as the late Jane White did in the original production. Without a genuine despot in the driver’s seat, there’s little threat. If only Cole Escola could find some time away from Oh, Mary!, I kept thinking, Mrs. Lincoln would find the Queen a role worth quitting the White House for. Now that would be a battle royale.
Once Upon a Mattress opened August 12, 2024 at the Hudson Theatre and runs through November 30. Tickets and information: onceuponamattressnyc.com
