Once Upon A One More Time in DC

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 1:04am

Just received an email from Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC that ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME will be playing from November 30th to January 2nd, does anyone know if this is the new location for their out of town tryout? Im surprised STC announced this before any official news came out from the production/playbill/broadway world!

Updated On: 8/30/21 at 01:04 AM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 1:12am

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 1:53am

“Inspired by” doesn’t mean “featuring” so is all the music Britney music?

Also, I think I like the older art work.

And Shakespeare DC seems an odd tryout for this...

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 6:35am

SouthernCakes said: "“Inspired by” doesn’t mean “featuring” so is all the music Britney music?

Yes, all Britney music.


Also, I think I like the older art work.

Same here.
 

And Shakespeare DC seems an odd tryout for this..."

Could not agree more... it's kind of bizarre and makes me wonder if this even has its sights on Broadway at all anymore. It would be a different story if it was playing the National Theatre in DC or something, but Shakespeare DC is a little odd.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 7:48am

Interesting. Any word on casting?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 7:58am

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 8:40am

I can’t effing wait

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:09am

OMFG! I live in DC!!! I'll be there opening night 

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:31am

I am so excited for this! I was literally about to book the trip to Chicago for the out of town try out when Covid shut everything down. DC is much closer and doesn't require the huge travel commitment.

Raymond Lee (who was part of the cast pre-shutdown) shared the BroadwayWorld posting to his Instagram so I assume the cast will remain largely in tact or that is the intention. 

 

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:33am

bwayphreak234 said: "SouthernCakes said: "“Inspired by” doesn’t mean “featuring” so is all the music Britney music?

Yes, all Britney music.


Also, I think I like the older art work.

Same here.


And Shakespeare DC seems an odd tryout for this..."

Could not agree more... it's kind of bizarre and makes me wonder if this even has its sights on Broadway at all anymore. It would be a different story if it was playing the National Theatre in DC or something, but Shakespeare DC is a little odd."

 

Sidney Harman hall is truly beautiful, not odd at all imo

It's expected to hit Broadway in Q1 of 2022, one of the cast members confirmed that a few months ago

 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:38am

No different than Six playing the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. More so curious if Sydney Harmon Hall has the tech capabilities for this, I've seen shows there, but none of what I presume is a high budget. 

[MannPhan24601]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:38am

This seems like a cash grab from the conservatorship #FreeBritney

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:48am

MannPhan24601 said: "This seems like a cash grab from the conservatorship #FreeBritney"

We all agree that c-ship is wrong and Britney deserves her Freedom!

Having said that, this musical has been in the works since 2017, and Britney herself attended readings in 2018 in NYC and she seemed pretty happy with it (as cast confirmed). 

The fact the c-ship is finally being exposed and investigated, does not mean people (or fans in my case) cannot enjoy Britney's legacy and in this case in the form of a musical 

I would call cash-grab any form of merch or music release but not a musical that requires investors, a production team, people to chroreograph and direct the play on stage, custome designers, among other thing...call it cash-grab is pretty disrespectful

 

Updated On: 5/27/21 at 09:48 AM

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:54am

^Could not have said it better myself, Pablitonizer. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 10:23am

BroadwayNYC2 said: "No different than Six playing the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. More so curious if Sydney Harmon Hall has the tech capabilities for this, I've seen shows there, but none of what I presume is a high budget."

Oh no. I agree! It’s a beautiful modern theater just they haven’t hosted a big splashy tryout! So that’s what seems odd. It’s a first for them. But the theater itself is very nice and almost like the Marquis.  

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 11:00am

I bet they are saving the original artwork for the Broadway run, or at least the concept. They are really emphasizing more of the "Britney Spears music crashes the 'Once Upon A Time' fairy tale" with this one... at least in the title treatment.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 11:07am

I must have missed this when it was first announced, but it seems like they already have plans for a movie version of this as well. Very curious to see how it'll turn out, and I might just make the trip to DC to see it

[George in DC]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 2:11pm

I really had no interest in seeing this but, since I am a subscriber to Shakespeare Theatre, I guess I will be going. Maybe I might like it.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 3:10pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "No different than Six playing the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. More so curious if Sydney Harmon Hall has the tech capabilities for this, I've seen shows there, but none of what I presume is a high budget."

Not a great comparison –– CST has a long history with musicals (modern and classic) and Six is vaguely Shakespearian.

But...a venue is a venue, and theatres aren't in the business of turning down Enhancement Money right now. If this is a hit, STC's coffers could benefit greatly from royalties from the Broadway and subsequent productions. It's the kind of relationship between art and commerce that any nonprofit theatre company needs to weigh right now. One wouldn't have expected Pippin to play the A.R.T. in the Robert Brustein era, but...times change.

[Dolly80]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 6:56pm

This has the worst title of any show I can remember.

Everything about it makes me worried. That includes the totally unexciting C list creative team.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/27/21 at 9:48pm

[unclevictor]

Posted: 5/28/21 at 9:17am

Dolly80 said: "This has the worst title of any show I can remember.

Everything about it makes me worried. That includes the totally unexciting C list creative team."

C List creative team? Really. Explain please. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/28/21 at 10:34am

I am interested in seeing the choreography. Keone and Mari Madrid have a really specific style. I see a hint of it in that artwork above. I watched a bunch of their videos the other day and their choreography lends itself a bit to Britney's style but, for me, could start to feel repetitive unless they open it up a bit . With that said, it is cool though. The story line sounds interesting and could be fun if done right. I already have plans to see this with a friend who is a huge Britney fan.

[SpookyFish13]

Posted: 5/28/21 at 12:31pm

Check out the documentary "Framing Britney Spears" for the tip of the Britney Spears c-ship controversy  but the "rumours" are essentially this:

From the beginning, many people say that Britney only went along with this conservatorship solely to regain custody of her kids. Many also allege that once team c-ship realized how much money there was to be made from this poor woman, they began pulling strings behind the scenes in order to KEEP Britney in this conservatorship.

Essentially, this goal-post (being the custody of her kids) appeared to be continuously moving forward to keep Britney working and touring around the world. (This was the time of her massively popular Circus tour!!)

For the past several years, Britney has been refusing to work in protest of the conservatorship (more specifically her fathers unquestioned involvement). Because of this, it seems that the team conservatorship  is scrambling to create as many Britney attractions as possible without actually needing Britney's participation... (Remember that Vegas Britney "In The Zone" Attraction....?)

For a lot of people, the breaking point was when an intern from the law firm managing her conservatorship who came forward and blew the whistle on several human rights violations happening in her conservatorship. His testimony is the specific incident that sparked this "free Britney" movement.

It would *seem* that there are people desperately scrambling in order to find a way to milk this metaphorical cash-cow when its now refusing to produce milk - and ethically I find that rather... questionable?

 

I'm a huge fan of both Broadway and Britney (-pop culture in general!)  and I find it hard to resist the siren call of this show, but at the same time it would seem like it's not done with her best interests in mind...!

Thoughts?

 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 5/28/21 at 1:15pm

“ Not a great comparison –– CST has a long history with musicals (modern and classic)”

Also not true. The Shakespeare Theatre in DC also has a long history of musicals—they typically do a splashy musical every year. Evita was scheduled before the pandemic. Kiss Me Kate Prior.