Sing songs; chime bells; rock the rafters! “Once Upon a Mattress” has laid siege to the Ahmanson and you will be helpless to avoid its spell. A fractured fairy tale adaptation of “The Princess and the Pea,” this hilarious retelling has hummable tunes by Mary Rogers and exceedingly clever lyrics by Marshall Barer. This revival, direct from Broadway, also boasts a new adaptation of the original book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshal Barer with more contemporary references by Amy Sherman-Palladino (“Mrs. Maisel,” “Gilmore Girls”).
Have you ever wondered what Vaudeville was like at its height when Buster Keaton, Mae West, Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields, Burns and Allen and the Marx Brothers ruled the stage? “Once Upon a Mattress,” which started life as a fleshed-out sketch at an adult camp in the Poconos, will give you that shiver of recognition. Improvisation is the very skeleton of this show; it’s built into its DNA. It’s all controlled chaos and silly plot points. At any moment you expect a red nosed clown to appear, honk his horn and spray the audience with water from a squirt gun and you wouldn’t be far wrong.
The Jester opens the show singing “Many Moons Ago,” serving as a narrative to the history of this medieval kingdom prior to the current time in 1432. Little has changed. The kingdom is ruled by King Sextimus, muted by a curse, and his domineering wife Queen Aggravain, a fitting name if ever there was one. A bride must be found for their son Prince Dauntless, a misnomer because there is nothing that doesn’t daunt him. Mommy will not allow him to marry anything but a true princess, as determined by the tests she administers. Think Final “Jeopardy” with a question that even Ken Jennings can’t answer. Dauntless, clueless to Mommy’s machinations, is frustrated to say the least. Making matters worse, no one in the kingdom is allowed to marry until he does, something that presents a problem to the lovely Lady Larken and her dimwitted but handsome beau Sir Harry. She’s pregnant and unless Harry can find a viable princess she is doomed to disgrace. Off he goes and when he returns, with said real princess, all hell breaks loose and the story takes off into the stratosphere. Unable to wait for the slower moving Harry (it’s not just his movements that are slow), the princess, Winifred the Woebegone of the Marshlands Kingdom, has swum the moat, eager to meet her future betrothed. Looking much like the creature from the black lagoon, Aggravain is in shock. “She swam the moat?!”
Of course, it’s love at first sight between the eternally hamstrung Dauntless and the very take-charge, crude princess whose farts and burps and overall filth make them opposites destined to attract. She is the antithesis of his mother and that is already appeal enough. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the rest of the fairy tale, but Aggravain and the Wizard will devise the perfect test that will reveal Winnifred, Fred to her friends, as a false princess, yet another to lose the derby.
The songs were written when Broadway tunes were hummable. I had to restrain myself from singing along because this has always been one of my favorite musicals and I play the soundtrack from the original recording often. That original production was made famous because of a show-stopping performance in 1959 by a Broadway newcomer named Carol Burnett. Burnett set the standard and no replacement or, up until now, revival has fully succeeded because of comparisons to her performance, real or imagined. The show is dependent on a star with charisma, comedic chops, and a vocal range that plays on that very comedic timing. Luckily, this production has just such a star Winnifred in Sutton Foster whose arrival on the scene in muddy, stinky raggedy clothes and ratty hair, literally and figuratively, stops the show and turns the pleasant little tale on its ear. Watching this wild-eyed fish out of water take in her surroundings and the royals is jarring, made more so by her virtuosic scene of gorging on grapes, obviously an unknown commodity to the girl from the land of mud and filth, that reveals her comic bona fides. Unafraid to be disgusting, it’s like an orchestrated fart joke that keeps on giving.
Sutton Foster, the multi-Tony award-winning musical actress, shows herself to be a rare combination of Mary Tyler Moore with her smile and lithe balletic leg extensions combined with the physical comedy that Lucille Ball made famous. Her comedic range is as breathtaking as her pratfalls. She’s the effortless front and center of every scene. Think Lucille Ball stomping those grapes or, even more aptly, stuffing those chocolates into her already full mouth. Who wouldn’t fall in love with her?
Well, maybe not Queen Aggravain, played by the hilariously evil Ana Gasteyer, whose Broadway and television credits are testaments to her believable over-the-top performance as the mother from hell.
Michael Urie, last seen at the Ahmanson in “Buyer and Cellar,” is perfect as the clueless Dauntless who is finally willing to risk the wrath of his domineering Mommy Dearest. Daniel Breaker, with his melodic tenor, is the Jester, the narrator who liltingly sings the expositional narration while being the link to the various heroic characters. Oyoyo Joi is a perfect ingénue as Lady Larkin. Her song to her dullard of a lover, Sir Harry, entitled “In a Little While,” announcing their impending event is as clever and melodic an announcement as you will ever hear. It’s unimaginable that no one has seized on this song as part of the playlist for a gender reveal party. Her beloved, Sir Harry, is played by Ben Davis whose double takes, cluelessness and purity of heart goes hand in hand with his marvelous singing, pushing the comedy of this hilarious show even farther.
From the tight-fitting bodice of Aggravain to the snug little tights on Dauntless, to those dirty rags and slippers designed to make Fred’s feet look ginormous are by costume designer Andrea Hood, further enhanced by the inventive wig and makeup design of J. Jared Janas. The minimalist scenic design, necessary because the stage is shared with the orchestra, sequestered behind the so-called moat wall, adds to the improvisational feel that allows the viewer to fill in the details. Directed by Lear deBessonet and choreographed by Lorin Latarro, they keep things moving at a feverish pace.
Hie thee hence to the Ahmanson before “Once Upon a Mattress” leaves the realm.
Now playing through Jan. 5 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave. Los Angeles. Check with Audience Services (213-628-2772) for matinees and performance times.
