I caught this on Saturday night and wanted to add my two cents.
Firstly, I walked up to the box office around 3pm and used the oops50 code for a rear orch seat (Row Q). Audience was a nightmare! Not for singing, but full voice talking and the woman next to me kept texting. Lucky for me, side orch was completely empty so I moved pretty far down at intermission. By the looks of it on Ticketmaster, they're not selling these seats but sightlines were totally fine so I'm not sure why (we're talking like 3-4 seats all the way up the side).
I love Britney, I'm a big fan of recent jukebox musicals (MR, Cher Show, & Juliet), gimme all the camp... but this was not it for me. I thought the design was cold and sterile. This fairy tale land takes place in an Apple Store? The pieces they brought in were cheap and unexciting. That squeaky staircase during "Everytime" might've gotten the biggest laugh out of me all night! I felt like an elaborate enchanted world would've served the show much better than that glass house (???). Don't get me started on the preshow. Sound wasn't too loud for me. It was explosive numbers like "Circus", "Toxic", "Crazy" and the unfortunately short megamix that kept this from being a total bomb.
The only thing I'll say about the book is that I spent the entire night comparing it to (the far superior) & Juliet and Bad Cinderella. I mean everything down to the quill! While & Juliet's "rewriting" begins in the first 10mins, OUAOMT talks more about "rewriting your story" than actually doing it. Between the strike, The Feminine Mystique, story's edge etc. I just found the lack of clarity resulted in an emotionless payoff.
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content
The Clumsy and Prince Erudite storyline was underdeveloped and unnecessary. Just felt like a quick opportunity to be current and inclusive.
Briga was very likeable and is clearly pouring everything into her Cinderella, but I do have to second the weak vocals. It's tough when standouts like Simard and Jackson are singing circles around her. Guarini was really fun and the audience was eating him up, but his character has no real arc.
Despite all the negative buzz from DC and the disappointing direction they took with the story, I really went in wanting to have a good time but the evening fell flat for me. A missed opportunity for Britney's massive catalogue. However, I'll definitely be returning to see if anything changes... but only One More Time. Groan I couldn't resist.