Britney Spears‘ music will be combined with a story straight out of a fairy tale in the musical comedy Once Upon a One More Time, which will open on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on June 23 after a month-plus of previews beginning May 13.
Spears, however, is not directly involved in the musical, which is being produced by James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold and directed and choreographed by Keone and Mari Madrid. It is described as a “musical adventure about claiming your own happily ever after” and features familiar characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, and the Little Mermaid reckoning with female empowerment after being visited by a fairy godmother.
Once Upon a One More Time was originally scheduled for a pre-Broadway engagement in Chicago in 2019, but was delayed to spring 2020 and then canceled amid the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually opened in a limited run at Washington D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company last December and closed in early January.
The project’s original story was written by Jon Hartmere (Bare, The Upside), with additional contributions from creative consultant David Leveaux (Romeo and Juliet), scenic designer Anna Fleischle (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), costume and hair designer Loren Elstein (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), lighting designer Kenneth Posner (Wicked, Beetlejuice), sound designer Andrew Keister (On Your Feet!), and projection designer Sven Ortel (Newsies).
Spears is said to have attended an early reading of Once Upon a One More Time in 2019 and gave the project her blessing, but has not commented publicly about it since then. After the dissolution of her 13-year conservancy, the artist returned to music this summer with a guest appearance on Elton John’s hit “Hold Me Closer.”
