As previously announced, the New York City Center’s Encores! production of Once Upon A Mattress will open on Broadway this summer at the Hudson Theatre. Sutton Foster and Michael Urie will lead the cast as Winnifred the Woebegone and Prince Dauntless, respectively. We now know who will be joining the duo of stars.
Ana Gasteyer (Saturday Night Live, Wicked) will make her return to Broadway as Queen Aggravain with 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, and Tony Award Nominee Will Chase (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Nashville) as Sir Harry. Reprising their performances from the Encores! run are Nikki Renée Daniels (Company, The Book of Mormon) as Lady Larken and David Patrick Kelly (An Enemy of the People, The Warriors) as King Sextimus.
The beloved musical 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). Previews begin Wednesday, July 31, 2024, with an opening night set for Monday, August 12, 2024, for the limited engagement through November 30, 2024.
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, reveling in Winnifred’s ability to charm and transform with willpower, honesty, and a little bit of help from her friends. 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.