Video: Sutton Foster Says Princess Winnifred is One of the Most Physical Roles She Has Played

Broadway star Sutton Foster stopped by Live With Kelly and Mark to discuss the new production of Once Upon a Mattress, where she performs opposite Michael Urie.

"It's very very physical. Probably one of the most physical roles I've ever [played]," Foster said of the role of Princess Winnifred, which was originated by Carol Burnett in the first Broadway production.

"She never really stops moving. And her big eleven o'clock number is attempting to fall asleep on twenty mattresses with a pea...It's just me in silence for about three minutes flopping around."

Foster admits that, before beginning work on the show, she didn't know it very well apart from its most famous number, Shy, but says "The score is spectacular and I love standing in the wings and watching everybody sing."

She went on to talk about working with her co-star Michael Urie, and how she approaches revivals as if they are brand-new shows.

Watch the interview now!

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.