On the Red Carpet: Why Once Upon a Mattress Is a ‘Joy Bomb’

Last year, when Sutton Foster found out she was going to be doing the revival of Once Upon a Mattress at New York City Center, she immediately contacted her friend, screenwriter Amy Sherman-Palladino (the two had worked together on the dance series Bunheads). 

Said Sherman-Palladino to Playbill: “Sutton texted me and said, ‘Hi, I’m doing Once Upon a Mattress at New York City Center, would you take a pass at the script? There was a five-minute negotiation, whatever Sutton wants, as far as I’m concerned, Sutton gets.” 

That quick pass at the script has turned into an eight-month journey as Mattress quickly transferred from City Center Encores! to Broadway. The show opened August 12 at the Hudson Theatre (read what critics had to say here). In punching up the script for Mattress, Sherman-Palladino, also the creator of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, wanted to focus on deepening Foster’s character, Princess Winnifred, in this comedic take on The Princess and the Pea. 

Click here to purchase the opening night Playbill for Once Upon a Mattress

“It was really about going in and clarifying, what is Fred’s happily ever after? Because in the old days, the happily ever after was the prince,” she explains. “You’re married, and that’s it. You don’t even have sex. Like, it’s over at marriage. And so this has really been more about what would Fred want, and what is her be all, end all? And it’s really for people to look at the weirdness that she is and say, ‘That’s pretty great.'”

Unlike Sherman-Palladino, Foster is not new to a Broadway show or to doing comedy on stage (just before this version of Mattress, she had the audience in stitches as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd). Foster admitted that playing Winnifred (“Fred”) has been challenging because of how much physical comedy is required, and because she was following in the footsteps of Carol Burnett, who first played the role in 1959. “I’m just gonna bring as much of myself to this role and sort of see where I can go from there, and obviously being inspired by the people that have come before me,” she says of her process. “But I think that’s what’s exciting about everybody [in this cast]. It’s like every single person who’s playing these roles is essentially a version of themselves, but just the zany or zaniest version of themselves.”

In the musical by Mary Rodgers, Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer, Fred has trouble sleeping. So we asked Foster how she sleeps at night. See her answer below and scroll down for more opening night coverage.

Director Lear deBessonet also credits Foster with getting this revival of Mattress off the ground. “This Winnifred is completely Sutton Foster-specific. She and I dreamed it up together,” she says. “The whole project began with a call from me to her, being like, ‘Do you want to do this?’ And then actually, she and I together called Amy…And so those relationships are at the heart of it.” DeBessonet has known the score for Mattress since she was a girl, because her mom used to play the score. “She used to play ‘Shy’ on the piano. So I knew it as like a little bitty girl, and it’s how I became introduced to Carol Burnett, who is a huge influence on my artistic life.”

Ana Gasteyer hadn’t been on Broadway since 2009. But she couldn’t say no to doing Mattress once she saw who was attached to it: Foster, Michael Urie, Daniel Breaker, Brooks Ashmanskas, among others. As a former Saturday Night Live cast member, Gasteyer relishes being able to unleash her comedic side on the stage (she’s a former Elphaba in Wicked). “I knew it would be fun backstage, which always means it’s gonna be fun on stage,” she says. “Then I got to know the music, and I got to know the show. It’s a really great message—a really authentic human being falling in love with another. And she’s real, she’s honest, she’s got integrity—there’s something really lovely about it.”

Gasteyer plays Queen Aggravain, a controlling mother who won’t let her son Dauntless marry unless she approves of the bride. Michael Urie admits that his character, Prince Dauntless, has a bit of a “soft brain” in the beginning. “I love characters that have soft brains. I love characters that grow,” he says. “And this guy starts with a soft brain, and by the end of the show, he’s a full-fledged adult.”

This is only the second Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress. Speaking to the cast and creative team of the show, they all had one word to describe the word: “joyful.” Says choreographer Lorin Latarro, “That’s what the world needs—is to remember that we love each other, and there are good things, and there are things that can make us smile and laugh and connect.”

Adds Urie: “I want everyone to come and to bring their families and their friends and to come and smile and laugh with us, because we are having the best time. We are. This show is a joy bomb, and we feel it in the audience. We need it. People need it. People need a joy bomb.”

See photos from the red carpet below.

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Photos: Opening Night of Once Upon a Mattress

The 18-week limited run of Once Upon a Mattress is set to continue through November 30. Following the Broadway run, Foster and Urie (further casting is to be announced) will take the revival to Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre via Center Theatre Group, with performances beginning December 10 and continuing through January 5, 2025.

The production comes to the Main Stem via New York City Center Encores!, where it ran in January. Continuing with the show are two-time Tony winner Foster as Princess Winnifred, along with Urie as Prince Dauntless, Nikki Renée Daniels as Lady Larken, David Patrick Kelly as King Sextimus the Silent, and Kara Lindsay as the standby for Princess Winnifred. New for the Broadway bow are Gasteyer as Queen Aggravain, Will Chase as Sir Harry, Daniel Breaker as the Jester, and Brooks Ashmanskas as the Wizard.

The ensemble includes Daniel Beeman, Wendi Bergamini, Taylor Marie Daniel, Cicily Daniels, Ben Davis, Oyoyo Joi, Amanda LaMotte, Michael Olaribigbe, Adam Roberts, Jeffrey Schecter, Darius Wright, and Richard Riaz Yoder. Swings Sheldon Henry and Sarah Michele Lindsey round out the company.

Featuring a book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer; music by Mary Rodgers; and lyrics by Barer, Once Upon a Mattress is a comedic retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Princess and the Pea. The musical, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1959, launched the career of Burnett, who starred in the work’s original Off-Broadway and Broadway bows along with a string of live TV productions. The musical has since become a favorite at high schools and theatre groups around the world. This revival features a book adaptation penned by Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls).

Look Back on the Original Broadway Production of Once Upon a Mattress