How Sutton Foster Brings an ‘Unhinged Version of Myself’ to Broadway’s ‘Once Upon a Mattress’
variety.comGordon Cox Theater Editor Optimistic, curious, adventurous. Also: Zero complexity. That’s how Sutton Foster describes Princess Fred, the character she plays in the Broadway revival of “Once Upon a Mattress.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: “What’s so fun is that I can just be wide-eyed, like: Everything’s great!” Foster said on the new episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast. “I thought: What a fun way to look at life,” she continued, adding with a laugh, “It’s essentially just an unhinged version of myself.” Foster reprises her lead role in “Mattress” after the production first played a short run in January as part of the annual Encores!
series at Manhattan’s City Center. During that initial engagement, the actress was simultaneously preparing to step into the complicated role of Mrs.
Lovett in the Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd.” “I was just coming off the heels of learning ‘Sweeney,’ which is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to learn,” she remembered. “And then — gratefully — stepping into a role that is all about leaping gleefully, naively, into the unknown, which is Fred.
So the character sort of mirrored what I was going through in my life.” The part Foster plays in “Mattress” was famously originated by Carol Burnett.
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