ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME/Britney Spears musical to play pre-Broadway Chicago engagement

[jacobsnchz14]

October 29-December 1, 2019 at the Nederlander in Chicago

Once Upon A Time... Cinderella, Snow White, and the other fairytale princesses gather for their book club, when - oh, baby baby! - a rogue fairy godmother drops The Feminine Mystique into their corseted laps, spurring a royal revelation. Could there really be more to life than bird-made dresses and true love's kiss? Set to the songs of Britney Spears, the Princess of Pop herself, ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME is an uproarious, irreverent look at the towering challenges, charms, and choices involved in finding that most elusive of endings: Happily Ever After.

 

The musical features an original book by Jon Hartmere (The Upside, bare), with direction by Tony Award nominee Kristin Hanggi (Rock of Ages) and Choreography by MTV Video Music Award nominees Keone & Mari Madrid (Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself"; "World of Dance".

[LizzieCurry]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/theater/britney-spears-musical.html

[DiscoCrows]

Hmmm.

[Call_me_jorge]

Not sure how I feel about this. The creative team doesn’t really excite. I’ll wait to see what the cast is like. I could see Betsy Wolfe doing a good job in this.

[BrodyFosse123]

This is going to be a huge hit, regardless of whatever the plot is. There is no denying the appeal her music has regardless of where you fall in the music genre in tastes.

Whenever her music comes on, regardless of the setting, the joy that kicks in radiates a full room. Is it good pop music? Is it bad pop music? Are the lyrics idiotic? Whatever you want to rip into is forgiven. People just love all of it. Her never-ending Las Vegas residency, which continues to sell out nightly, is an attestment to everything I wrote.

[Eris0303]

I'm not one to clutch my pearls over jukebox shows or ones based on movies.  But, I don't think I can really get behind this one.

[getupngo]

the premise sounds fun. also, at least its not another f*****g bio musical

[quizking101]

Interesting premise. It's low-key giving me "Head Over Heels" vibes though...

[BrodyFosse123]

quizking101 said: "Interesting premise. It's low-key giving me "Head Over Heels" vibes though..."

Highly unlikely.  HEAD OVER HEELS had that whole Elizabethean thing going with the dialogue and costume design that didn't really attract interest.  At least the plot description of this has a mainstream appeal to it which would suit Britney Spears' material.   

 

[YvanEhtNioj]

The plot sounds really cute. I'm here for it

[YvanEhtNioj]

That name does not roll off the Tongue, tho.

I see a lot of people on Facebook pages comparing it to Head Over Heels but let's be real.. Her catalog is far more well-known and Iconic than the Gogos

[RippedMan]

I think it sounds fun, but maybe not "Broadway?" I guess we will see. It doesn't scream like big production to me. Maybe more New World Stages? But curious to see what they do and the logo.

[bdn223]

I was really hoping Britney's Jukebox would be called Lucky and would basically be a mash up of Britney's life and the plot of the song, but I will still give this a chance.

[ClumsyDude15]

bdn223 said: "I was really hoping Britney's Jukebox would be calledLuckyand would basically be a mash up of Britney's life and the plot of the song, but I will still give this a chance."

I was literally just telling friends of mine how I always wanted it to be a Lucky centric plot, but this plot does sound fun. I would have loved a show about Britney and her rise to fame and then the journey along the way but I absolutely give them kudos for taking a more original approach than yet another bio-musical. 

I'm a HUGE Britney fan, so I'm ready. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

RippedMan said: "I think it sounds fun, but maybe not "Broadway?" I guess we will see. It doesn't scream like big production to me. Maybe more New World Stages? But curious to see what they do and the logo."

Oh if it's Britney, they're gonna go big. 

Within the last hour, My Facebook feed is flooded with my gay friends spazzing out in excitement lol many of whom spend $$$$$$$ to see her in concert. So at least they've got a niche market already 

[Vespertine1228]

I also agree that this should be called Lucky, even if it has the exact same plot. They can sell fairy tale in the marketing and the main draw is the music anyway.

I'm always much more interested in a jukebox musical with a fictional plot instead of a biography. Sounds fun.

[Marlothom]

This will be fun and glad it's not a bio.  Her songs are very easy to sing for a trained singer so I expect major belting.  

[Tag]

The gimmick here will be that the whole show will be lip synched. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

Tag said: "The gimmick here will be that the whole show will belip synched."

The shade 

[Tag]

Does Bill Berloni do snake handling?

[BritCrit]

This looks like fun. Britney's music may not be as sophisticated as Cher, Tina Turner etc, but it could work really well for a fractured fairy tale such as this one. 

My main issue with this project is its similarity to "& Juliet", which is opening in the West End at the same time. This is another Jukebox musical aiming to provide a "Girl Power" update to an incredibly old story, and it will also feature Britney hits on the soundtrack (however, it is centered on Britney's regular songwriter and producer Max Martin rather than Britney herself). I wonder if the similarities between the two could prevent them from crossing the Atlantic....

[quizking101]

Tag said: "Does Bill Berloni do snake handling?"

(temptation to make crude joke swells)...Nah, too easy

 

[whatacharacter]

I'm excited for the 11 o'clock number.  Rapunzel sings "Crazy" while shaving her head and beating the fairy godmother with a bat...

[TheSassySam]

whatacharacter said: "I'm excited for the 11 o'clock number. Rapunzel sings "Crazy" while shaving her head and beating the fairy godmother with a bat..."

 

The 11 o'clock number is totally going to be Stronger. I am just afraid the villain will be a witch, where her underlings chant "Work Witch" to her. 

[greensgreens]

I understand that it's using Britney's catalog and for lots of people that's a selling point (I can also name a fair number of people where this would be an instant turn-off regardless of how good the show may be). But this show being billed as "the Britney Spears musical" is so frustrating for me. She didn't write any of her hits (as far as I know - she may have a generous writing credit somewhere like many other "artists," but she's not doing the bulk of the work in any sense). The show isn't about Britney or anything of the sort, there may be some winks, but unless there's some really big information being left out at this point, it's not a bio-musical or anything close. At least The Cher Show is actually about Cher, so, although it uses her songbook that she didn't write, it actually is "the Cher musical" still. Just seems like a smidge of false promise with this pitch. I mean, did Britney even have to sign off or approve a single thing for this to happen?