The ingredients of “Once Upon a One More Time” — various fairy tales, a bunch of Britney Spears songs, a how-to-strut-and-tut manual — may very well have been fed into a computer and reformulated by Chatbot GPT. For all I know, the musical might unfold in a different, random sequence of songs, words and dance every night at the Marquis Theatre, where it had its official Broadway opening Thursday.
#26
Posted: 6/22/23 at 9:09pm
Vincentelli in NYT is mostly negative:
‘Once Upon a One More Time’ Review: Cinderella, Liberated (Again)
The Britney Spears jukebox musical, about fairy tale princesses fighting for their emancipation, comes up short as a narrative of feminist awakening.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/theater/once-upon-a-one-more-time-review.html
"this big, splashy show, which is quite entertaining at times, is hampered by a shambolic jumble of sisterhood 101 messaging and defanged fantasy revisionism."
"And though the numbers for “ … Baby One More Time,” “Circus” and “Crazy” look fantastic, the one-size-fits-most staging can become repetitive, and is not as effective in those moments when a less in-your-face approach is needed.
Worse, the songs often barely suit the story, even with some tweaked lyrics. Exceptions include Cinderella’s stepsisters (Ryann Redmond and Tess Soltau) commanding her to “Work Bitch.” The Max Martin jukebox musical “& Juliet,” which is playing a thousand feet away and features five Spears hits, integrates book and songs with less visible seams and more wit."
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