WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER MOAT…
Direct from its sold-old, record-breaking New York City Center Encores! run, Once Upon a Mattress returns to Broadway for the first time since 1996. Two-time Tony® winner Sutton Foster gives what The New York Times calls an “ebullient, joyful, perfectly goofy” performance as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone alongside royalty of stage and screen, Michael Urie.
Newly adapted by Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), this New York Times Critic’s Pick introduces the unapologetically eccentric Winnifred to a repressed kingdom, where she charms, delights, and dances her way to the top… of a stack of mattresses.
Book your tickets now to this uproarious production – “it will restore your fealty to the throne!” (Observer).
While the musical may have its lulls during the second act — and drag some of its overly-exaggerated gags for just a smidge too long at times — it's hard not to find joy in watching Foster silently entertain an entire audience on her own by trying her hand at ye olde Chubby Bunny Challenge. If a jolly, slightly risqué spin on a classic fairytale is what you're looking for, then don't sleep on this revival. B+
It took over two decades, but Foster is now finally playing Winnifred in a Broadway revival of “Mattress” based on an Encores! production at City Center from earlier this year. As expected, Foster is sublime, and the production is a tuneful, old-fashioned, flamboyant, altogether blissful romp.
1959 | Broadway |
Broadway Transfer Broadway |
1959 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
1960 | West End |
London Production West End |
1996 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2004 | Regional (US) |
42nd Street Moon Concert Regional (US) |
2015 | Off-Broadway |
Transport Group Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
2024 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
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