Once upon a time, Britney Spears was a fledgling theater kid.
At age 10, before she was cast in “The Mickey Mouse Club,” Spears was an understudy in the 1992 off-Broadway production of “Ruthless!” alongside Natalie Portman. Three decades and several chart-toppers later, the pop star’s infectious catalog is now the soundtrack to jukebox musical “Once Upon a One More Time,” which opened on Broadway in late June at New York’s Marquis Theatre.
“She really is a Broadway baby,” says Jennifer Simard, who plays the wicked Stepmother in the fairy tale-inspired show. “It’s kind of beautiful and full circle that her pop career – of which she’s now one of the all-time greats – is back on Broadway.”
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The Broadway show is a ‘giant celebration’ of Britney Spears
“Once Upon a One More Time” follows six fairy-tale princesses who take charge of their narratives after reading “The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedman’s 1963 feminist bestseller. The musical cleverly weaves together roughly two dozen of Spears’ best-loved songs: In “Lucky” the women yearn for more than a happily ever after, while in “Womanizer” they rail against the two-timing Prince Charming (Justin Guarini). “Toxic” becomes a sultry showstopper for Simard’s deadpan Stepmother, who also dances in a feather boa for “Work Bitch” (a nod to Spears’ serpentine performance at the 2001 MTV VMAs).
“It’s just a giant celebration of Britney,” says Mari Madrid, who directed and choregraphed the show with husband Keone.
The musical features all sorts of Spears callbacks: Little butterflies are sprinkled throughout. Cinderella (Briga Heelan) dons her signature mock neck and side part. And at one point, the cast recreates iconic moves from her “Oops!… I Did It Again” music video, which was choreographed by Tina Landon.
“It’s such a thrilling moment to hear the audience start to recognize the choreography and then lose their minds,” Guarini says. “It’s all part of this love letter to Britney.”
Britney Spears wanted ‘a brand-new story,’ not a biography
A Spears jukebox musical was first announced in 2017. It was Spears herself who came to Broadway producers James Nederlander and Hunter Arnold with the idea to collaborate.
“She really wanted something that was using her music that was a fairy tale and not about her life, but a brand-new story,” Guarini says.
The project was in development for years, with Spears sitting in on one of the early workshops.
“The joy on her face let us know that we were doing it right,” says Aisha Jackson, who plays Snow White. “She was very excited. Every song she heard, she was intrigued by how it was being used. We didn’t get to meet her face to face, but we saw her in our little audience laughing and cheering us on. You could tell she was quite pleased with what was happening.”
The Grammy winner has been given regular updates about the project throughout its various readings and dance labs, as well as during its pre-Broadway tryout in Washington, D.C., in 2021.
“Everything has gone through our producers and her team,” Mari says. “But she has always been sent video footage at every stage and given her feedback through the pipeline.”
Spears signed her deal after the conservatorship, can profit from the show
The musical is Spears’ first major project since the end of her conservatorship in November 2021. The singer was placed under the legal arrangement in 2008, which gave her father, Jamie Spears, control over her life and finances. She last performed live in 2017, and has only recorded one new song (Elton John duet “Hold Me Closer”) since the conservatorship was dissolved by a Los Angeles court.
A representative for “Once Upon a One More Time” confirms that the musical was fully authorized and licensed by Spears post-conservatorship. The underlying rights agreement, which she signed last year, provides her with a revenue stream from the Broadway show and any future productions.
“The last few years of Britney’s life have unfortunately been focused on the conservatorship, and we’re so happy that she’s free now,” Keone says. “Watching the show reminds me of what I love about Britney and why we all fell in love with Britney in the first place. It’s another way to celebrate her because we don’t get to as often these days, (since) she’s not performing.
“So for fans and lovers of Britney, what a way to celebrate her first project post-conservatorship. It’s just an honor to us that she wants to be part of this.”
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‘We get to celebrate her freedom every night’
Spears has not yet come to see the Broadway production, although she obviously has an open invitation: “If she were to feel that she wanted to, we would be overjoyed,” Mari says. “But, you know, on her own time.”
Although, the hit-maker did made a public endorsement on her Instagram on the musical’s opening night, wishing “good luck” to the cast and crew, and writing, “I’ve seen the show and it is so funny, smart and brilliant!!!”
The cast was thrilled by Spears’ approval, despite some of the singer’s more skeptical fans, who have pushed online rumors that she doesn’t control her own social media.
“I’m so delighted that she’s delighted,” Simard says. “There are some people who have conspiracy theories, and if you’re that hellbent on not believing it, I think there’s nothing that can convince you. There are some ‘Free Britney’ people who think it’s not her, and that’s just not true.”
With this show, “we get to celebrate her freedom every night,” Jackson says. “Some of her fans have questioned the behind the scenes of everything, and we know that we’ve always been operating in a way that would honor her. So it’s beautiful that now, publicly, everyone knows she’s good with it. We’re all on the same page. She supports it.
“We uplift her, she uplifts us – it’s a great feeling.”
