ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME To Play Final Broadway Performance Next Month

The new musical Once Upon A One More Time, powered by the music of Grammy Award-winning pop icon Britney Spears, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, September 3, 2023, after 123 performances at the Marquis Theatre. Plans are currently underway for a national tour and multiple international productions, to be announced at a later date.

Helmed by internally acclaimed, Drama Desk-nominated Director & Choreographers Keone & Mari Madrid (Beyond Babel, Karate Kid, Justin Bieber, BTS), Once Upon a One More Time is an electrifying and witty musical comedy featuring an original story written by Jon Hartmere (bare, The Upside). Fully authorized and licensed post-conservatorship by Britney Spears, the musical weaves the chart-topping hits of the undisputed Princess of Pop – including "Oops I Did It Again," "Lucky," "Circus," "Toxic", and more – into a brand-new kind of fairytale where “happily ever after” will never be the same. 

The musical began previews on May 13, 2023 at the Marquis Theatre in New York City, and celebrated opening night on Thursday, June 22, 2023. 

“We could not be prouder of this beautifully joyous and exhilarating show – which is not only a love letter to Britney’s iconic artistry and singular effervescence, but also a brilliant display of the boundless talent of our cast and creative team,” said producers James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold in a statement. “We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to this dream team of collaborators, performers, designers, staff, crew, and investors who continue to share our passion and joy for this project. As plans take shape for the show’s future life around the globe, we’re excited to share more news soon!”

Starring in the Original Broadway Cast of Once Upon A One More Time are Briga Heelan (“Great News”, “Ground Floor”) as Cinderella, Justin Guarini (“American Idol”, Wicked) as Prince Charming, and Aisha Jackson (Frozen, Paradise Square) as Snow White, reprising the roles they originated in the world premiere production of Once Upon a One More Time, which played a sold-out, extended engagement last year at the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), in Washington, D.C. They star alongside two-time Tony Award nominee Jennifer Simard (Company, Mean Girls) as Stepmother, two-time Tony Award nominee Adam Godley (The Lehman Trilogy, Hulu’s “The Great”) as The Narrator, comedienne Brooke Dillman (“The Wayne Brady Show”, “The Office”) as The O.F.G. (Original Fairy Godmother), Tess Soltau (Wicked, “The Good Fight”) as Stepsister Betany, Gabrielle Beckford (The Prom 1st Natl. Tour, Gloria: A Life at A.R.T.) as Rapunzel, Ashley Chiu (KPOPat Ars Nova, She Said) as Sleeping Beauty, Nathan Levy (Dear Evan Hansen) as Clumsy, Ryan Steele(Newsies, Matilda the Musical) as Prince Erudite, Morgan Whitley (American Psycho, The Greatest Showman) as Princess Pea, and Lauren Zakrin (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) as Little Mermaid.  The role of Stepsister Belinda is currently played by Amy Hillner Larsen (The Marvelous Wonderettes, Hairspray Tour), while Ryann Redmond is on medical leave.

Rounding out the cast are Matt Allen (Escape to Margaritaville, Something Rotten), Liv Battista (Billie Eilish Tour, Beyond Babel) as Belle, Jacob Burns (Hamilton And Peggy Tour), Pauline Casiño (“Little Voice” on Apple TV+, Candace Brown’s The Soul Spot) as Esmeralda, Selene Haro (Beyond Babel) as Gretel, Joshua Daniel Johnson (Disney’s Sneakerella) as Prince Brawny, Ryah Nixon (Kinky Boots) as Goldilocks, Justice Moore (Hamilton, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Red, Kevin Trinio Perdido(Almost Famous, Fire Island The Musical) as  Prince Mischievous, Mikey Ruiz (Beyond Babel) as Prince Gregarious, Salisha Thomas (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Josh Tolle (Kinky Boots 1st Natl. Tour, The Heart of Rock & Roll) as Prince Suave, Diana Vaden (Tootsie, Mack and Mabel at Encores!) as Swing, Stephen Scott Wormley (The Lion King, “The Blacklist”) as Prince Affable, and Mila Weirand Isabella Ye alternating as Little Girl.

Joining the Madrids and Hartmere on the musical’s creative team are five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux (Nine, Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar LIVE”) as Creative Consultant, Tony Award-nominated Scenic Designer Anna Fleischle (Hangmen, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Costume Designer Loren Elstein (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Kenneth Posner (Wicked, Beetlejuice), Sound Designer Andrew Keister(KPOP, On Your Feet!), Tony-nominated Projection Designer Sven Ortel (Newsies) and Drama Desk nominated Wig Designer Nikiya Mathis (Death of a Salesman, Chicken & Biscuits). Casting is by Hardt Casting (West Side Story).

The world premiere production of Once Upon a One More Time played a sold-out, extended engagement at the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), in Washington, D.C, from November 29, 2021-January 9, 2022, and was praised as “ingenious, and improbably funny” (Washingtonian). The musical was described as “an evening of buoyant delight” by The Washington Post critic Peter Marks, who also wrote in a feature on the production, “Once Upon A One More Time is one of the most ambitious new musicals in a theater world awakening to a creative new day – a most unlikely cultural mash-up, reframing a bevy of storybook characters in an enlightened, modern context.”  NPR said the show, “combines fairytales, Betty Friedan and Britney Spears in a large-scale, Broadway way, resulting in clever, uproarious fun. Who couldn’t use a little more fun these days?”  DC Metro Theater Arts raved the show is, “inspiring! A full-fledged, Grade A, gold star success… and exactly the party we need right now. It is as thought-provoking as it is toe-tapping, as clever as it is hilarious, as bold as it is shiny.”

Photo credit: Matthew Murphy