"Once Upon a Mattress," Ahmanson Theatre, Dec. 10, 2024 – Jan. 5, 2025
Dec. 20, 2024 | By Bruce R. Feldman
In Brief: A bright and bouncy revival of one of the zaniest musical comedies of all time. Sutton Foster’s showstopping performance alone is worth the price of admission, though others in the cast are equally terrific.
Sutton Foster, and the cast of "Once Upon a Mattress" (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Winter may be coming, but it’s all sun and lighthearted lunacy for the next few weeks at The Ahmanson where a cheerful new production of Once Upon a Mattress are delighting audiences.
The zany musical has been a favorite since it’s Broadway debut in 1959. It introduced Carol Burnett, who would go on to television stardom, and composer Mary Rodgers, who showed that she could invent lasting Broadway ballads and terrific comedy numbers.
The book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer, recently lightly updated by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, is pure whimsy from start to finish.
Set in a mythical medieval kingdom, the story involves a tenacious princess, Winifred the Woebegone (Sutton Foster), the mild-mannered young prince (Michael Urie) she is determined to wed, and an impossible test the prince’s overbearing mother, Queen Aggravain (Ana Gasteyer), gives Fred to make sure she’s a real princess.
David Patrick Kelly, Michael Urie, Ana Gasteyer (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Of course, in the end Fred gets her man by acing the test, with some crafty help from others in the palace, including mute King Sextimus (David Patrick Kelly), conceited Sir Harry (Ben Davis), coy Lady Larken (Oyoyo Joi), bumbling wizard (Kevin Del Aguila), and silver-tongued jester (Daniel Breaker).
As the implacable, moat-swimming princess Winifred, Foster once again demonstrates that she can turn any role she tackles into a personal triumph. She belts, she mugs, she dances, she can do physical comedy.
She’s hysterical whether making her famous entrance or gobbling down an entire bowl of juicy grapes when no one is watching.
Her sensational turn here is all the more impressive when you consider that her last two Broadway roles were the unholy Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the prim Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. Both shows were huge hits.
Foster is the complete musical comedy package. What can’t she do!
Sutton Foster’s show stopping performance alone is worth the price of admission
Both Michael Urie and Ana Gasteyer also stand out. Urie is funny and charming as a clueless naif. Gasteyer plays the meddlesome queen strictly for laughs, and she gets plenty of them.
The production design is minimal, though still visually appealing. David Zinn’s spare set serves as an effective backdrop for Justin Townsend’s brilliantly colorful, lush lighting. Andrea Hood’s costumes are funny and fanciful.
Lorin Latarro devised appropriately wacky choreography, though the big Spanish Panic number felt just a little flat.
Special praise goes to conductor Annbritt duChateau who achieves a rich, spirited Broadway sound with a 15-piece on-stage orchestra.
The show, ably directed by Lear deBessonet, arrived here after a brief Broadway run with at least some of its original cast intact, an all-too-rare treat for Los Angeles audiences, as we normally see the same nothing-special touring cast that plays the hinterlands.
It was produced by New York City Center Encores! which deBessonet heads. The group has a deserved and devoted following for its 30 years of fully staged concert versions of neglected Broadway musicals.
Let’s hope that Center Theatre Group will bring more of their first-rate musical productions to Los Angeles. Wouldn’t that be something?
“Once Upon a Mattress,” Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 628-2772, www.centertheatregroup.org
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