Video: Ana Gasteyer Discusses the Delights of 'Playing Mean' Opposite Sutton Foster

Broadway star and SNL alum Ana Gasteyer recently stopped by Good Morning America to discuss the new production of Once Upon a Mattress, which is currently running on Broadway.

The actress recalled joining the production because it would be a "guaranteed joyride...I just knew it was going to be fun and ridiculous. It's based on Vaudevillian schtick. There's nothing deep or complicated about it," she said with a laugh.

She went on to talk about her role as the "mean terrible" Queen Aggravain who "yells at everybody," highlighting how fun it is to play evil opposite Sutton Foster's Princess Winnifred.

She notes that this role is different from other stage roles she has played in the past, at least vocally. "I have one number in this. I've done other shows where I've sung the whole show. I was Elphaba in Wicked, for example, where your whole life is you live like a nun and constantly warming up. This is more like going and irritating people in their dressing rooms," she says of her playful friendship with her co-star Brooks Ashmanskas.

Watch the full interview!

Once Upon a Mattress returns to Broadway in a new adaptation by Emmy Award winner Amy Sherman-Palladino (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Gilmore Girls”), directed by Tony Award nominee and Drama League Award winner Lear deBessonet (Into The Woods). An uproarious update of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea,” Once Upon A Mattress sets an unapologetic free spirit loose in a repressed kingdom, where Winnifred the Woebegone charms, delights, and dances her way to the top… of a stack of mattresses.   Full of gloriously catchy melodies like “Shy” and “In a Little While,” the musical first premiered in 1959, with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer.

The new production of Once Upon a Mattress is a transfer of the record-breaking, sold-out run at New York City Center’s Encores! earlier this year. Foster will reprise her performance as Winnifred alongside Michael Urie as Prince Dauntless.

Once Upon A Mattress began previews on Broadway on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, and officially opened on Monday, August 12, 2024, for the limited engagement through November 30, 2024, at The Hudson Theatre.