Recently, iHeartRadio Broadway got to chat with the Broadway cast of Once Upon a Mattress. The cast discussed their love of working together, their newfound adoration of the musical, and more. Watch our interview in the player above!
On the heels of its record-breaking, sold-out run at New York City Center’s Encores! earlier this year, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS will open on Broadway this summer at The Hudson Theatre (141 W 44th St). Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, The Music Man) will lead the Broadway cast, reprising her acclaimed performance as Winnifred the Woebegone, hailed by The New York Times as “perfectly goofy, and imprinted with an ebullient, joyful relish in the very act of performance.” The beloved musical returns to Broadway for the first time in over 25 years, with 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). Previews begin Wednesday, July 31, 2024, with an Opening Night set for Monday, August 12, 2024, for the limited engagement through November 30, 2024.
Drama Desk Award winner and SAG Award nominee Michael Urie (Spamalot, HBO’s “Shrinking”, “Ugly Betty”) – deemed “exactly right” in the role of Prince Dauntless by The New York Times, raving that he “chews the scenery with an infectious gusto” – will also star in the Broadway revival, alongside two-time Tony Award nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (The Prom, Fame Becomes Me) as The Wizard, Tony Award Nominee Daniel Breaker (Passing Strange, Shrek) as The Jester, Tony Award Nominee Will Chase (Mystery of Edwin Drood, “Nashville”) as Sir Harry, Nikki Renée Daniels (Company, Book of Mormon) returning as Lady Larken, David Patrick Kelly (An Enemy of the People, The Warriors) returning as King Sextimus, and Ana Gasteyer (“Saturday Night Live”, Wicked) as Queen Aggravain.
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.
Declared a “Critic’s Pick” during its record-breaking run this year, as the highest-grossing show to date for City Center’s Encores! series, The New York Times raved, “Sutton Foster makes a banquet of the material... her glee in taking possession of the stage creates an all-encompassing manic energy that both the audience and her scene partners feed off.” New York Magazine wrote that Foster’s “escalating feats of strength, flexibility, and musicality, are sure to get the heart pumping and the crowd laughing. Let these weirdos rule the kingdom!”
Rounding out the Broadway cast are Kara Lindsay (Wicked, Newsies), returning as the Standby Winnifred the Woebegone, Daniel Beeman, Wendi Bergamini, Cicily Daniels, Taylor Marie Daniel, Ben Davis, Sheldon Henry, Oyoyo Joi, Amanda Lamotte, Sarah Michele Lindsey, Michael Olaribigbe, Adam Roberts, Jeffrey Schecter, Darius Wright, and Richard Riaz Yoder.
Once Upon A Mattress features Choreography by Drama Desk Award nominee Lorin Latarro (The Who’s Tommy); Scenic Design by Tony Award winner David Zinn (Fun Home, SpongeBob SquarePants); Costume Design by Obie Award winner Andrea Hood (Into the Woods); Lighting Design by Tony Award winner Justin Townsend (Moulin Rouge! The Musical); Sound Design by Tony Award winner Kai Harada (Days of Wine and Roses, Merrily We Roll Along); Hair, Wig and Makeup Design by J. Jared Janas (Sweeney Todd, &Juliet); and Physical Comedy and Effects by Obie Award winner Skylar Fox (Fat Ham, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- assoc.) Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin (The Light in the Piazza), and Drama Desk Award winner Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Company) will serve as Music Supervisor, with Annbritt duChateau as Music Director. General Management is by Wagner Johnson Productions. Casting is by The Telsey Office (Bernard Telsey, CSA; Craig Burns, CSA). Cody Renard Richard is Production Stage Manager.
Once Upon a Mattress is produced on Broadway by Seaview, Creative Partners Productions, Jenny Gersten and Half Zip Productions, and Hugo Six.
Following its New York engagement, the production will transfer to Los Angeles for a four-week engagement at Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre from December 10, 2024 – January 5, 2025.
Tickets are on sale now, at OnceUponAMattress.com.