Tracey Ullman To Star in TV Once Upon A Mattress

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 5:42pm

Tracey Ullman, not the previously announced Marissa Jaret Winokur, will star in the upcoming TV production of Once Upon a Mattress. Kathleen Marshall will direct.

Variety reports that the comedic actress best known for her FOX series "The Tracey Ullman Show" will play Princess Winnifred opposite the original Princess, Carol Burnett. Burnett, who starred in Mattress on Broadway in 1959 and on television in 1964 (in black and white) and in 1972 (in color), will play the conniving Queen Aggravain. ABC will present the television special, although no air date has been announced.

Burnett told Daily Variety, "It all fell together when I said, 'We've got to get Tracey.' A lot of times the networks were thinking about a teenager for the role, but that's not really what the story is about. . . . [Since much of the plot concerns the Queen's refusal to let anyone under her rule marry], it makes sense that the [characters] are more adult."
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/87567.html

[sabrelady]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 6:11pm

HUH? Adult is one thing, Oedipal is quite another! Tracey is in her 40's and the whole thing kinds icks me out now!

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 8:05pm

Yes, I'm a huge Ullman fan, but Winnifred in her 40's? It's a fairy tale with a happy ending! Oh well, maybe it's a Fractured Tale, now, about a middle-aged woman finding true love. Perhaps it'll stretch to accommodate that spin (with Prince Dauntless played as a middle-aged Mama's boy? Hey, they're out there... How about Adam Sandler?) Sarah Jessica, on b'way, wasn't funny enough. I dare say, Ullman will be comic. And she is beyond versatile. Remember, folks, Burnette is 70ish, so that's not an issue.

[beacon1]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 8:18pm

I think Tracey is amazing and very versatile. She disappears into characters of all ages...including young college students.

I think she'll be grand.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 8:30pm

She'll bring dimensions that Marissa can't. She'll be fabulous. I predict a Tony.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 8:42pm

Emmy, baby. Not Tony.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 8:46pm

HA! I'm conditioned...

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 7/28/04 at 9:39pm

I love Tracy, but I really can't see her as Princess Fred.

[shesings]

Posted: 7/28/04 at 10:01pm

does she sing? I have a hard time seeing this as well.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/28/04 at 11:14pm

As was posted on the other thread about this subject, Tracey, for those of you apparently too young to remember, not only had a hit single in the late '80's called They Don't Know, but she had a variety show which spawned The Simpsons, and in which she sang, danced, and played all manner of characters, all ages and types. It was called The Tracey Ullman Show and it aired on Fox. She will no doubt be sensational in this role.

Updated On: 7/28/04 at 11:14 PM

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 7/29/04 at 12:53am

Her hit song was called "They Don't Know About Us"

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 7/29/04 at 1:01am

Awww, no Marissa
Well, I'm sure Ms.Ullman will do the part justice.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/29/04 at 9:35am

The song was called They Don't Know. The "about us" was the end of that line, but not part of the title.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 7/29/04 at 9:51am

Perfect casting. Finally an actress/singer who knows how to be funny and can make something of that role. I saw Lucy Arnaz do it in the 70's and she was pretty damned good. I am looking forward to this production, Possums!