“It’s been a dreamy couple of years,” says Michael Urie on a Friday afternoon phone call, just hours before a performance of his latest Broadway show “Once Upon a Mattress” at the Hudson Theatre.
These dreamy years have also been busy ones for the star, who rose to fame for his role as Marc St. James on the sitcom “Ugly Betty.” Now, Urie stars in the hit Apple TV dramedy “Shrinking” alongside Harrison Ford and Jason Segel — season two premieres Oct. 16.
He has also taken the stage by storm over the past couple of years, starring in Broadway’s revival of “Spamalot” and now the revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,” which also had a stint at New York City Center in the winter. While both shows feature Urie in showstopping musical numbers, he never considered himself to be “very musical.”
Michael Urie in “Once Upon a Mattress.”
Emilio Madrid
“Doing a musical at all, it’s still a pinch me thing,” he says. “I fell in love with theater because of musicals…[but singing] didn’t come naturally to me.”
Urie continues: “I wasn’t going to be in ‘Les Mis.’ I wasn’t going to be in ‘Phantom.’ I wasn’t going to be in these big singing musicals. I always had my eye on…the more musical comedies.”
While “Spamalot” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” another show Urie starred in, were musicals that fit the bill and he always aspired to, “Once Upon a Mattress,” a zany retelling of ”The Princess and the Pea,” was never on his radar.
“Here I am chasing after the musicals I think I’m capable of, and here comes one that I didn’t even realize,” he says.
In the show, Urie plays Prince Dauntless, who has a bit of arrested development thanks to an overprotective mother played by “SNL” alum Ana Gasteyer.
“I think of Dauntless as a child at the beginning of the play and a man at the end of the play,” he says, which Urie conveys via physical comedy — specifically, there are moments where he appears to be afraid of stairs, which leaves the audience in stitches.
When the happy-go-lucky role was presented to him, Urie jumped at the chance to work with Sutton Foster again, who he starred alongside in the television series “Younger.”
Michael Urie and Sutton Foster
Rebecca J Michelson
“I didn’t even listen to the music. When they offered me the job, I just said yes, because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play alongside her,” he says of Foster. “She’s a delightful human being with just a lot of heart and joy.”
It was also an opportunity for the duo to play nice on stage, as they often faced off in work drama on “Younger.”
“It’s fun to play mean,” he says, noting he’s done it a lot throughout his career. “But falling in love is more fun to play, and flirting is so fun.”
Not only has Urie been juggling singing on stage with acting behind the camera, he’s also toggling between subject matter. “Shrinking” and “Spamalot” both target a more adult audience, while “Once Upon a Mattress” is fun for all ages.
“Getting to go from adult shows where we say the ‘F word’ to kids shows where you can hear the laughter of children is for me…the best,” he says.
Although Urie’s most recent Broadway roles seemingly target different audiences, they have a key similarity: the need to hold in laughter while on stage.
“Sutton and I have some moments that are kind of loosey goosey that are not nailed down, and so that is hard,” Urie says, noting moments of improvisation are often the funniest, which was the case with “Spamalot.“ “She’ll try to get me and and then I’ll try to get her.…We try our best not to laugh, but if we did, [the audience] would love that.”
Michael Urie
Chelsea Gehr
While starring in “Once Upon a Mattress” eight times a week, Urie is also gearing up for the season two release of “Shrinking” next month.
“The first season ended with a literal cliffhanger, and everyone knows now that Brett Goldstein has a role in season two, so there’s some exciting things around those two points,” he says. “Season two is about forgiveness.”
Without sharing specifics, Urie shared some favorite concepts explored in the upcoming season.
“Those of us who were once in the closet or pretending to be something that we weren’t, we change, and sometimes the relationships that we had before that coming out of the closet moment have to change too,“ he says, referring to his on-screen relationship with Segel’s character. “It’s one of those big ideas we explore this season in the show that I’m proud of because it’s hard for me to even articulate as a queer person, much less write about.“
As far as what’s next for Urie, he has several aspirations: more revivals, more Shakespeare, more dramas and maybe something new?
“I’ve never done an action movie, so maybe that’s on my bucket list,” he says.
