On the heels of its critically acclaimed return to Broadway, Once Upon A Mattress makes its West Coast premiere this winter.
In a new adaptation by Emmy Award winner Amy Sherman-Palladino (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Gilmore Girls”) and directed by Tony Award nominee and Drama League Award winner Lear deBessonet (Into The Woods), the show will premiere at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre December 10, 2024 to January 5, 2025. Tickets and information are available at CenterTheatreGroup.org
Two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, The Music Man) leads the Los Angeles cast, reprising her acclaimed Broadway 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.”
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, as he “chews the scenery with an infectious gusto” – also stars in the Los Angeles production direct from the Broadway revival, alongside Ana Gasteyer (“Saturday Night Live,” Wicked) as Queen Aggravain. Full casting will be announced at a later date.
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.
Once Upon a Mattress was declared a “Critic’s Pick” during its record-breaking run as the highest-grossing show to date for City Center’s Encores! Series and is currently playing to packed houses on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre for its limited run through November 30, 2024.
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.
On Broadway, Once Upon a Mattress is produced by Seaview, Creative Partners Productions, Jenny Gersten and Half Zip Productions, and Seth A. Goldstein and Isaac Robert Hurwitz for Hugo Six.
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