ABC Will Air Once Upon a Mattress on December 18

The long-delayed ABC television version of the Mary Rodgers-Marshall Barer-Dean Fuller-Jay Thompson musical Once Upon a Mattress will air on Sunday, December 18, from 7pm-9pm, as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.

The movie is directed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall, and stars Carol Burnett, Tracey Ullman, Denis O’Hare, Matthew Morrison, Edward Hibbert, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Boatman, and Tom Smothers.

Based loosely on The Princess and the Pea, Mattress tells the story of a country ruled by Queen Agravain (Burnett) who will not let anyone marry before her son, Prince Dauntless (O’Hare), does. But when one couple is desperate to wed, they fetch Princess Winifred (Ullman) as a match for the bachelor Prince, much to the Queen’s dismay.

The original Broadway production, which starred Burnett as Winifred, opened in 1959 and ran for 460 performances. It was first filmed for TV in 1964, starring Burnett, Jack Gilford, Jane White, Elliot Gould, and Shani Wallis, and then again in 1972, with Burnett, Gilford, White, Ken Berry and Bernadette Peters.

In 1997, it was revived on Broadway with Sarah Jessica Parker as Winifred, and a supporting cast including David Allen Baker, Mary Lou Rosato, and Jane Krakowski. That production ran for 188 regular performances, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Musical.