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‘Once Upon a Mattress’ Review: Sutton Foster Is an Awkward Fit in a Musical That’s Not Quite Broadway Royalty
The talented Tony-winning star is an awkward fit in a musical that's not quite Broadway royalty.
And this production — adapted by “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and previously seen early this year as part of City Center’s Encores series — tends to try to solve for the play’s deficiencies with an attitude that is something less than winning. The role was first played by Carol Burnett, and Foster seems to be aiming for a Burnett-esque loopy comedy as she clambers across the stage; throughout the show, she shifts her weight like a prizefighter, as if so filled with energy she simply must express it. (A key set piece in which Winnifred, hungry and unaccustomed to bounty, stuffs her face to bursting with grapes has an anxious, needy aspect — pushing toward laughter that the writing isn’t earning.
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