Once Upon a One More Time
Opening Night: June 22, 2023
Theater: Marquis Theatre
Website: onemoretimemusical.com
When our storybook heroines gather for book club, they always discuss the same book, Grimms’ Fairy Tales — because as far as they know, it’s the only book that’s ever been written. That’s until a rogue fairy godmother drops The Feminine Mystique into their corseted laps. From now on, “happily ever after” will never be the same. Once Upon a One More Time weaves the chart-topping hits of the undisputed Princess of Pop, Britney Spears, into a brand-new kind of fairy tale.
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June 22, 2023
But this big, splashy show, which is quite entertaining at times, is hampered by a shambolic jumble of sisterhood 101 messaging and defanged fantasy revisionism.
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June 22, 2023
I’m not exactly sure how this creative team conjured up so much charm (perhaps, a fairy godmother really was involved) but the result is a thoroughly enjoyable, relentlessly watchable and genuinely funny good time.
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June 22, 2023
Smart, funny, splendid to look at and all with a beat you can dance to, this tribute to the Brothers Grimm, the sisters of the Second Wave and, not least, the indomitable Ms. Spears, is a delight.
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June 22, 2023
What do you get by crossing “Six” with “& Juliet”? No, “Bad Cinderella” was last season. Today, that mash-up of two similar musicals gives you the slightly better Cinderella show, which has been tortuously titled “Once Upon a One More Time.”
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June 22, 2023
I didn’t wanna go, but I admit that a piece of me had a lot of fun at Once Upon a One More Time, a bubblegum-feminist Cinderella story constructed around the pop hits of Britney Spears. For a fan of more substantial musicals, with original scores, it’s a masochistic pleasure. Fine, Broadway, gimme more! Hit me, Broadway, one more time.
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June 22, 2023
But Once Upon a One More Time pays its truest homage to Britney, not by wringing its hands over how to make pop serious, but through its bouncy understanding of fierce fun with laser-sharp choreography. Don’t overthink it, just intoxicate yourself.
READ THE REVIEWJune 22, 2023
While its main conflict may resolve itself a bit too easily in the end — not unlike its source material — Once Upon a One More Time is a youthful, exuberant take on beloved tales that’s more dazzling and polished than Cinderella’s glass slipper. Expect to keep on dancin’ long after the musical ends.
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June 22, 2023
Fresh off of “Bad Cinderella” comes the new Broadway musical “Once Upon a One More Time” — an even worse Cinderella.
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June 22, 2023
Once Upon a One More Time emerges as a worthwhile concept thwarted by poor execution. It is certainly preferable to a Britney Spears biomusical, which would have been a sad affair for a 41-year-old artist with more yet to offer.
READ THE REVIEWJune 22, 2023
In any case, “Once Upon a One More Time” is a dizzy but enjoyable goof, similar in many ways to “& Juliet.”
READ THE REVIEWJune 22, 2023
Once Upon a One More Time is certainly not the first piece of media interested in putting a modern, empowering spin on fairytales — even the notion of the “strong independent princess” has become a tale as old as time. But it certainly is the most fun. Spears’s hits and impeccable dancing from director/choreographers Keone and Mari Madrid make Once Upon a One More Time an irresistible party. And quite frankly, that’s what I want from a Britney Spears musical more than anything else.
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June 22, 2023
How do you not get “Baby One More Time” right? That is the first mystery—and the first warning that all may not be well—with Once Upon a One More Time, the musical filled with Britney Spears’ music that opened on Broadway Thursday evening (Marquis Theatre, booking to Nov 19). Truly, if you’re doing this magnificent banger, don’t kick off your big Broadway jukebox musical with it feeling as messy as this musical does.
READ THE REVIEWJune 22, 2023
The truly awful “Once Upon a One More Time,” which opened on Broadway Thursday night at the Marriott Marquis Theatre under the “creative consultancy” of David Leveaux, is not that musical. Instead, it tries to cash in on the repetitive fashion of the moralistic musical moment and uses Spears’ songs as a way to critique and deconstruct “problematic” fairy tales.
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June 22, 2023
Given that Once Upon a One More Time follows those shows in this mini-genre (not to mention their sparkly, belty, much better fairy godmother Six), you might have reason to hope that it refines and improves upon the tropes. Instead, it’s reductive and pandering, hitting all the expected marks without any unique spark.
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