“Once Upon a Mattress” review: Sutton Foster is the crown jewel in jovial Broadway revival

Don't sleep on this charming retelling of "The Princess and the Pea" playing at the Hudson Theatre for a limited time.

As the great Jane Austen once wrote: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” And, boy, Prince Dauntless the Drab (Michael Urie) will do just about anything to finally marry a freaking princess in the charming Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress — even if it means holding a few blood-sucking leeches along the way. 

The musical, which opened for a limited engagement at the Hudson Theatre on Monday, has returned to the Great White Way for the first time in nearly three decades with its book — originally penned by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, and Dean Fuller — adapted by Emmy award-winning Gilmore Girls and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (the musical made an appearance in the final season of Maisel).

Once Upon a Mattress is anything but your run-of-the-mill retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea: It’s a wonderfully whimsical and unabashedly silly spin on the classic fairytale brought to life by some of Broadway’s very best. 

As the story goes, Prince Dauntless the Drab can only become king of his medieval kingdom after taking a bride — a ruling that his mother, Queen Aggravain (SNL alum Ana Gasteyer), is not-so-secretly using to stay in power. After successfully vetoing all the princesses in the land through a series of rigged trials (like asking one princess to do long division even though it hasn’t been invented yet), her reign looks secured until the brave knight Sir Harry (Will Chase) returns to the castle with a “strangely energetic swamp girl,” Princess Winnifred the Woebegone (Sutton Foster), who is eager to prove herself worthy of Dauntless’ affections. 

Related: Carol Burnett reflects on her most iconic roles, from Annie to The Carol Burnett Show

To say the entire kingdom is rooting for the couple is an understatement. See, no one can get married until Dauntless says “I do,” which is throwing a real spanner in the works for Lady Larken (Nikki Renée Daniels) and Sir Harry, who are expecting their first child. So, when the Queen and her helpful Wizard (Brooks Ashmanskas) put Winnifred’s royalty to the test by seeing if she can feel a single pea placed under her 20-mattress-tall bed, a castle-wide effort is made to ensure they all live happily ever after. 

Bright and delightfully unserious, Sherman-Palladino’s adaptation is filled to the brim with buzzy dialogue and perfectly-timed punchlines that draw both laughs and shocked gasps from the crowd. As director, Lear deBessonet doesn’t add any unnecessary frills to this fairytale, letting its source material and small but mighty cast speak for itself. The rest of its creative team similarly follows suit — David Zinn’s scenic design and Justin Townsend’s lighting are minimal, yet effective, and allow theatergoers to watch the revival’s orchestra perform Mary Rodgers' music at the back of stage. Meanwhile, at its forefront, its ensemble is afforded the perfect playground to sing Marshall Barer’s lyrics and perform Lorin Latarro’s complex choreography.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Speaking of Once Upon a Mattress’ impressive cast: it’s more stacked than Winnifred’s bedframe. Gasteyer is wonderfully wicked as Queen Aggravain, volleying fierce one-liners with impeccable timing as she tries her best to foil Dauntless' plans. Daniel Breaker's Jester is anything but a fool, delighting audiences with his smooth vocals on the standout “Many Moons Ago.” As Larken and Sir Harry, Daniel and Chase easily find ways to inject humor into their royal romance, even if it’s just excitedly pointing down to Harry’s sparkly new spurs from time to time.

Still, Dauntless and Winnifred are the true heart of the show. Urie, a Drama Desk award winner, expertly plays the princeling as a well-meaning, but woefully awkward nerd who is hopelessly smitten from the moment Winnifred hauls herself onstage covered in leeches. Firing on all cylinders, Foster is a tour de force as she sings, dances, performs keg stands, fights raccoons, pulls a ukelele out of her pants, and almost never stops gyrating her hips throughout the musical's two-hour plus runtime. It's clear that the Tony award-winner relishes in every single second of the musical's over-the-top absurdity, pushing her physical comedy to the limit as she flings items into the audience and attempts to make her costars break with her endless enthusiasm. Combine the pair together and they make it impossible not to root for these two besotted dorks.

While the musical may have its lulls during the second act — and drag some of its overly-exaggerated gags for just a smidge too long at times — it's hard not to find joy in watching Foster silently entertain an entire audience on her own by trying her hand at ye olde Chubby Bunny Challenge. If a jolly, slightly risqué spin on a classic fairytale is what you're looking for, then don't sleep on this revival. B+

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.