A supercharged lead performance by triple-threat extraordinaire Sutton Foster and Amy Sherman-Paladino’s freshly adapted book are just two reasons to celebrate the December arrival at the Ahmanson of Once Upon A Mattress direct from its Broadway run.

Like the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale on which it is based, this tale of a Princess and a Pea takes us back “Many Moons Ago” to a medieval kingdom ruled by a King (David Patrick Kelly) incapable of uttering even a single word and a Queen (Ana Gasteyer) who won’t shut up, a land where courtiers of marriageable age are getting antsy because none of them are allowed to walk down the aisle until the still virginal Prince Dauntless (Michael Urie) takes a bride, something Mommie Dearest seems ill-inclined to see happen anytime soon.

Particularly peeved by this draconian law are a single-and-pregnant Lady Larkin (Oyoyo Joi) and Sir Harry (Ben Davis), the latter of whom seems almost as enamored of the spurs attached to his boots as he is of the future mother of his son-to-be, no matter that Larkin keeps reminding him that they might just be having a girl.

It’s precisely when all seems doomed that the less-than-delicate Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Foster) emerges from the castle moat, soaked to the skin and not at all concerned about informing the populace how “Shy” she is in a in a powerhouse belt of a voice that makes it clear that if there is one thing she is not, it is shy.

Will Princess Winnifred (aka Fred) fail Queen Aggravain’s test of “Sensitivity” by falling fast asleep atop twenty mattresses and a single tiny pea? Will Winnifred and Dauntless live happily ever after or will the Princess end up back in the moat she climbed out of? Will Lady Larkin give birth to a noble bastard?

Though it’s hard to imagine anyone who doesn’t know that the answers to these questions are “No way,” “Of course they will,” and “I certainly hope not!” … in Once Upon A Mattress, the fun is in the getting there, and never more so than with Foster giving yet another performance-of-a-lifetime and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel scribe Sherman-Paladino giving Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer’s cleverly tweaked book a contemporary sense (of humor) and sensibility.

It helps enormously that legendary Broadway composer Richard Rodgers’ daughter (and Adam Guettel’s mother) Mary Rodgers wrote tunes guaranteed to have you heading home humming, and that Barer’s lyrics are as clever as they get, and perhaps most of all, that a scene-stealing lead character originated by Carol Burnett on Broadway six-and-a-half decades ago gets reinvented to unrestrained comedic perfection by the justifiably above-the-title Foster.

Not only does the fearless Foster give slapstick queens Lucille Ball, Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, and Burnett a run for their money where inspired physical comedy is concerned (never has an actress made more out of sleepless tossing and turning than Foster does here), she sings and dances up a storm, and has irresistible chemistry with a revelatory Urie, who’s as adorably goofy a Prince as he is a terrific singer.

Director Lear deBessonet keeps things moving at a exhilaratingly breakneck pace while eliciting one fabulous supporting turn after another, from the divine Gasteyer’s imperious battleaxe of a Queen to Kelly’s piquantly pintsized pipsqueak of a King to Kevin Del Aguila’s captivating, magic tricks-performing Wizard to Daniel Breaker’s charming, charismatic Jester, and Davis and Joi are nonstop delights as the unexpectedly expecting and unfortunately unwed Harry and Larken.

Choreographer Lorin Latarro gives ensemble members Daniel Beeman, Wendi Bergamini, Taylor Marie Daniel, Cicily Daniels, Amanda LaMotte, Michael Olaribigbe, Destinee Rea, Adam Roberts, Jeffrey Schecter, Matt Wall, Darius Wright, and Richard Riaz Yoder ample opportunities to strut their dance stuff, in particular in the iconic, manic “Spanish Panic,” with Yoder joining Jester Breaker in an infectious “Very Soft Shoes,” and Daniel, Rae, and LaMotte earning bonus points a trio of hilariously overeager Princesses and assistant dance captain Bergamini as Lady Rowena and inside a piercingly-piped puppet Nightingale of Samarkand.

 Music director Annbrit duChateau conducts a 15-piece orchestra situated upstage and only slightly hidden behind David Zinn’s set’s medieval castle walls as Andrea Hood’s vibrantly Technicolor-hued costumes and Justin Townsend’s uber-saturated lighting steal the show where production design is concerned, with additional design snaps shared by J. Jared Janas (wig, hair, and makeup) and Kai Harada (sound) and a tip of the Jester’s hat to Skylar Fox for the show’s physical comedy and effects.

Casting is by The Telsey Office and Craig Burns, CSA. Sheldon Henry, dance captain Sarah Michele Lindsey, and Matthew Steffens are swings.

Martavius Parrish is associate director and Steffens is associate choreographer. Mary-Mitchell Campbell is music supervisor. Cody Renard Richard is production stage manager. Brian DeCaluwe is company manager.

Once Upon A Mattress has remained a proven crowd-pleaser for both grown-ups and their fairytale-loving kids for the past sixty-five years even without Amy Sherman-Paladino’s sparklingly adapted book and Sutton Foster’s dazzling superstar turn. Now, thanks to the inspired brilliance the dynamic duo bring to the table, a Golden-Age-of-Broadway favorite feels reborn.

Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles. Through January 5. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:00. Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00. Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30.
www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

–Steven Stanley
December 13, 2024
Photos: Joan Marcus

Tags: Ahmanson Theatre, Amy Sherman-Paladino, Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mary Rodgers