Where many stars revel in the spotlight, Ana Gasteyer seems to be drawn to strong ensemble pieces. The actress, singer, and comedian rose to fame as a member of television’s ultimate collaborative troupe on Saturday Night Live, and while her numerous Broadway credits include the role of Elphaba in Wicked, she has more recently appeared in such classic company showcases as The Threepenny Opera and The Royal Family.
The show that brings Gasteyer back to Broadway for the first time in 15 years, since a 2009 revival of Family, is another such vehicle: Once Upon A Mattress, the charming musical comedy inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. It features music by Mary Rodgers, famed composer Richard’s daughter.
Gasteyer counts herself as “a fan of Mary Rodgers in every aspect.” The second-generation composer, who died in 2014, was also a screenwriter and author. Gasteyer notes that Mattress was designed to accommodate “a ton of leads.” As detailed in Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers, cowritten with New York Times chief theater critic Jesse Green, the musical took shape in the 1950s at Tamiment, a resort and theatrical colony where emerging talent was developed. There, Rodgers was required to craft tunes for nine principal players.
The part that fell to Gasteyer in this new production — directed by Lear deBessonet, who also helmed 2022’s lavishly acclaimed production of Into the Woods — is that of Queen Aggravain, a comically domineering monarch who is, as Gasteyer drily puts it, “overly protective of my one and only precious son,” Prince Dauntless.
In the new staging, which, like Woods, premiered as part of New York City Center Encores! series, Michael Urie plays Dauntless, and two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster is cast as Winnifred, the boisterous, brawny, moat-swimming princess who wins his heart, thus becoming Aggravain’s nemesis. The cast also includes other musical-theater favorites such as Nikki Renée Daniels, Brooks Ashmanskas, Will Chase, and Daniel Breaker.
Like Breaker and Chase, Gasteyer is new to the Broadway production. At City Center, Aggravain was played by another celebrated veteran, Harriet Harris. Gasteyer already knew Breaker, as their children go to school together; she was acquainted with Foster and Urie socially; and she had taken part in workshops with Ashmanskas.
“It’s an all-star team, and I just love every person involved,” Gasteyer says. She was also drawn to the vaudeville and Borscht Belt influences in Mattress: “Those are naturally appealing to anyone who comes from a comedy background.” She adds, “With everything that’s been going on politically, for a long period of time, I just thought people would be ready for some joy. This is an enormously, shamelessly, uncynically joyful project, so it was easy to say yes to.”
Gasteyer admits that, beyond loving the score, she wasn’t extremely familiar with Mattress before signing on. “I hadn’t done the show, though it is one of those shows where everyone knows someone who has done it.” One of those people turned out to be Gasteyer’s longtime friend, collaborator, and fellow SNL alum Rachel Dratch. “I called her and asked, ‘Should I do this?’ And she said, ‘Oh yeah. I played Lady Larken in high school’” — referring to Daniels’s role, the show’s ingenue.
Gasteyer points out that Queen Aggravain and her cursed husband, King Sextimus, have evolved in the current Mattress. Noted screenwriter Amy Sherman-Palladino adapted an original book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller for this production. “We didn’t lean as much into the idea of him being a cheater and goosing all the girls. Sextimus is mute because he had an affair with a witch who hexed him, and that’s not as clear here. I always liked the idea of the queen in Disney fairy tales, like Sleeping Beauty, being glamorous and self-involved, and there’s more of that here, as opposed to her just being an old hag who’s been cheated on.”
Fleshing out Aggravain with deBessonet, Gasteyer muses, “We also decided that she’s probably the only person who understands what’s going on half of the time.” Working with the director “was great; she’s a super dramaturg, and there are so many great things in the book about family dynamics. I’m only sad that we didn’t have more time — it was a really fast process.”
Gasteyer will have a bit more time to explore the queen, as Mattress is headed to Los Angeles’s Ahmanson Theatre after its current run concludes. After that, she’ll have plenty to juggle, including a tour and writing projects, including one with Dratch. But don’t be surprised if she returns to Broadway sooner rather than later.
“My path to professional aspiration began, like it did for so many people, with musical-theater experiences in junior high and high school,” Gasteyer says. “I love my work in television and film, and writing as well, but as a singer, there’s no substitute for when you can harmonize with other human beings who do it so well.”