Britney Spears has blessed us with countless hit songs, and so far you’ve been able to listen to them on CD players, streaming services and on screen, but you can now hear her music in a brand new way — in a jukebox musical on Broadway that only uses the pop princess’ hits.
“Once Upon a One More Time” reimagines Spears’ songs in a fairytale world, where Cinderella, Snow White and Prince Charming bring the classic children’s stories to life, all while belting out some of the greatest pop hits of the 2000s.
The musical marks Spears’ first major project since the end of her conservatorship in 2021, and it was the singer herself who reached out to producers James Nederlander and Hunter Arnold to start collaborating.
“It was actually Britney who approached us and said, ‘We’d like to have a show based on my music, and specifically not a bio-musical,'” Arnold told Variety at the Broadway opening Thursday night. “The original idea came from ideas brought forth by her: She loves fairytales, princesses, storybooks. We took a couple of passes at it — we didn’t get it right instantly. Then we did a workshop after we got the current-ish version together and she came to see it and give thoughts on it.”
With a book by Jon Hartmere, “Once Upon a One More Time” flips some questionable fairytale tropes on their heads. After performing her same story night after night, Cinderella (Briga Heelan) feels like something is missing from her “happily ever after” life. Her narcissistic Prince Charming (Justin Guarini) and the controlling Narrator (Adam Godley) don’t let her have any independence and constantly put her down, until she discovers a copy of “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan. With her mind opened, Cinderella shares the feminist insights with her fellow princesses Snow White (Aisha Jackson), Rapunzel (Gabrielle Beckford), Sleeping Beauty (Ashley Chiu), Little Mermaid (Lauren Zakrin) and Princess Pea (Morgan Whitley).
As the princesses take a stand for themselves against Prince Charming, the Narrator and Cinderella’s evil stepmother (Jennifer Simard), they bring the house down with some of Spears’ biggest hits and flashy choreography ripped straight from the 2000s. One of the most entertaining moments from the musical is Guarini’s take on “Oops!…I Did It Again,” when some of his two-timing deeds as Prince Charming are finally revealed.
“It’s such a showstopper because of how ridiculous it is and the context. I won’t spoil it, but it’s such a Jerry Springer moment, combined with dancing and Justin’s performance and Aisha and Briga’s incredible performance. It’s too good to not bring some popcorn out,” said Keone Madrid, who co-directed and co-choreographed the musical with his wife, Mari Madrid.
“I just make sure I’m really warmed up and drink a lot of water because I sweat a lot.” Guarini told Variety. “In ‘Circus’ right into ‘Sometimes’ right into ‘Oops,’ it just goes, goes, goes. Everyone is dancing, and every single time I get off the stage, we’re just like ‘How did we do that?’ That is the beauty of Broadway’s magic.”
Though Spears was not in the packed, opening night crowd at the Marquis Theatre Thursday night, she wished the cast well on Instagram. “Good luck to the hardworking cast and crew of ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ on opening night tonight!!! I’ve seen the show and it is so funny, smart and brilliant,” she wrote.
To make the fairytale lyrics fit with her songs, she gave the musical’s team freedom to change some lyrics — as seen in the title’s play on “Baby One More Time.”
“The songs work way better than they have any right to work,” Arnold said. “Most importantly, Britney and her team gave us pretty liberal ability to shift lyrics here and there, to make sure things didn’t feel clunky, but purposeful. You don’t want to change too much because this is music that everyone on Earth loves; it’s a half art, half science to make sure everything fits where it is. Some songs that were big numbers of hers, there weren’t places to fit. Outside of the mega hits, there was no expectation that every song would be in it. They gave our creative team freedom to do what makes the show make sense.”
To be in a Britney Spears musical, you have to have some level of fandom for her songs, and every cast member of “Once Upon a One More Time” was already a super fan.
“I had all of her posters all over my wall,” said Heelan. “I’ll never forget hearing ‘Baby One More Time’ for the first time. I had my little white CD player and I sat so close to it and listened to that song.”
Added Jackson, “She’s free and we need to celebrate that freedom with her and appreciate and uplift her artistry and all the songs she’s blessed many generations with. Now’s the time to honor her and hopefully bless some other people in the process.”
