ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
- By KENNE HOFFMAN
Looking for your happily, happily, happily ever after? Look no further. Sutton Foster, the darling of Broadway, silver screen, and television, dons her crown once again as Princess Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress at the Ahmanson Theatre. This triple threat performer has won two Best Actress Tony Awards — for Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002) and Anything Goes (2011) and she has been nominated for several others in between. She has appeared in films and on television in such series as Younger, Psych, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. At the age of 15, Foster was a contestant on the reality competition show Star Search. After studying theatre at Carnegie Mellon University, she settled in New York to further her career on and off Broadway in shows such as Grease, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, The Music Man, and Sweeney Todd.
Once Upon a Mattress tells the story of the fictional medieval kingdom of Farfelot in 15th-century Europe, ruled by the devious Queen Aggravain (Ana Gasteyer). Princess Winnifred (Foster) is not the first tested to see if she is worthy of marrying Prince Dauntless the Drab (Michael Urie). She is in fact the thirteenth princess. The day the Minstrel arrives at court, the Queen, alongside her confidant, the Wizard, is testing Princess #12 with an unfair quiz. To the Queen’s delight, the princess misses the last question. The populace of the castle complains about an unjust law levied by Queen Aggravain. “Throughout the land no one may wed, ’til Dauntless shares his wedding bed.” However, every petitioning princess is sent away after failing the Queen’s quiz. It seems that no one is good enough to marry Prince Dauntless.
The original production of Once Upon a Mattress, starring Carol Burnett, opened off-Broadway at the Phoenix Theatre in May 1959, moved to the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) on Broadway in November of that year, and played a total of 470 performances. The music is by Mary Rodgers (Richard Rodgers’ daughter) and lyrics are by Marshall Barer. The book of the musical (written by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller) is a humorous adaptation of the 1835 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. In 2006, a TV adaptation starring Sarah Jessica Parker won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Costumes and Original Music and Lyrics.
In January of this year, a concert presentation (with a book adaptation by Amy Sherman-Palladino) was staged as part of the NY City Center Encores series. It then opened in August for a limited run at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. This very same production arrives at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre on December 10 for a four-week engagement through January 5. Once again starring Foster, Gasteyer, and Urie, Mattress is directed by Tony-nominee Lear DeBessonet and features choreography by Lorin Latarro. The story sets an unapologetic free spirit loose in a repressed kingdom and revels in Winnifred’s ability to charm and transform with willpower, honesty, and a little bit of help from her friends. Broadway loved it, and now it’s our turn! This is perfect holiday fare!
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