Revival of ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ is musical comedy at its best

Happily Ever After

The revival of “Once Upon a Mattress” is musical comedy at its best.

Silliness rules the kingdom of the delightful, zany, and magnificently entertaining revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,” now on Broadway. If your blood pressure had finally normalized after laughing your head off at “Oh, Mary!” down the block, get ready for it to spike again.

While there has been a penchant recently for revivals to fully reimagine classics — “1776,” “Oklahoma,” “Cats” — for “Mattress,” director Lear deBessonet has doubled down on the inherent comedy of this 1959 musical with a clear understanding that some schtick is timeless, and in the right hands, it always lands joyously.

The plot is a twist on the Andersen fairytale, “The Princess and the Pea.” However, in this retelling, the search is on for a wife for Prince Dauntless, but his mother, Queen Aggravain is blocking every possible princess with tests too difficult to pass, largely because she doesn’t want to give up her son. She is a smothering termagant, and Dauntless is chafing under her dominance. Meanwhile, no one in the kingdom can marry till Dauntless does, causing no end of frustration. Lady Larken and Sir Harry, however, haven’t restrained themselves, so the urgency to wed (in the ethos of 1959 to be sure) is a bit more pronounced. Harry sets off to find a princess, returning with Princess Winifred of the Swamps who charms Dauntless and the court, challenges Aggravain, and — with the enthusiastic assistance of the understandably eager subjects — saves the day.

Theatergoers of a certain age will remember the animated series “Fractured Fairytales,” and the television versions in 1964 and 1972 starring Carol Burnett reprising the role of Winnifred, which made her a star in the original Off-Broadway and Broadway productions.

Sixty-five years later, what makes this admittedly flimsy show work are the same things that did originally: a sensational cast and absolutely fearless and completely unabashed schtick. The thing about schtick when it’s done well is that it’s familiar, predictable even, but it works. Thus, Winnifred’s entrance after swimming the moat (She was impatient to get there.) is a master class in building a joke, as are her hilariously over-extended bits eating grapes and trying to sleep on top of 20 mattresses, which, presumably, have a single pea placed at the bottom. Just when you think the gags have reached the top they go further.

It would be hard to imagine the role of Winnifred in any other hands than those of Sutton Foster. She is, without question, the premiere Broadway comedienne of our time. Fortunately, you don’t have to: Foster’s timing is perfection, and she balances the broad physical comedy with an endearing innocence that makes an audience fall as hard for her as Dauntless does, in addition to her wonderful singing and dancing. She’s everything you could want in a musical comedy star.

Sutton Foster in "Once Upon A Mattress." — Sutton Foster in “Once Upon A Mattress.”Joan Marcus

As Prince Dauntless, Michael Urie is perfectly matched to Foster. He’s another comic dynamo who knows how to milk a laugh and make the smallest physical bits very, very funny.

Sir Harry and Lady Larken are the romantic leads as they try to figure out a way out of their predicament. Harry may be a bit dim, but Will Chase makes him sweetly so. Larken is increasingly worried and planning an escape, but Nikki Renée Daniels makes her also gentle, strong, and sweet. The two of them are both marvelous singers, and they have the most lyrical songs, including “In a Little While” and “Yesterday I Loved You” that provide a romantic counterpoint to the rest of the score, which is largely made of comic, novelty numbers, such as Winnifred’s classic, “Shy” (always sung at full belt).

In the supporting roles, Anna Gasteyer makes the imperious Aggravain a classic comic character, in the vein of Margaret Dumont in the Marx Brothers movies. The role is a definite type, a ridiculously serious foil to the chaos at hand, and Gasteyer seems to revel in it — to fully hilarious effect. Daniel Breaker is terrific as the Jester who narrates the tale, and it’s a reminder that we don’t see enough of him on Broadway. The always-hilarious Brooks Ashmanskas is the Wizard who abets Aggravain in her plots and plays it as her delightful BFF, not quite a 1959 interpretation of the role, but it works.

And that’s the thing about this production: it works. Say what you will about the physical comedy that dates back to the ancient Greeks. The gags that recall variety shows, Saturday Night Live, or The Kids in the Hall. Add the romantic ballads and simple story, and you have a formula that has made audiences laugh and brought joy since actors first took the stage. It still works, today. So, get over to the Hudson Theatre and indulge yourself in a royal treat.