Oops!….They did it again.
“Once Upon a One More Time,” a campy and glittery jukebox musical mishmash which combines the pop hits recorded by Britney Spears with various fairy tale characters and a feminist viewpoint, is like a rehash of “& Juliet” (which does the same thing with “Romeo & Juliet” and pop songs performed by Spears and others), “Bad Cinderella” (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s short-lived bad girl retake on “Cinderella”), and “Six” (which reinvents the six wives of Henry VIII as pop stars such as Spears).
While one might also add “Into the Woods” (which was just revived on Broadway and also combines characters from different fairy tales into a single plot) to the list of precedents, I would prefer to not compare that Sondheim masterwork with a piece of junk like “Once Upon a One More Time.”
Spears reportedly had no involvement with the musical beyond granting a license for the use of her name and intellectual property, attending an early reading, and suggesting a fairy tale premise. Rather, the show is the work of Jon Hartmere, who co-wrote the underrated 2004 high school musical “Bare: A Pop Opera.” The featured songs (such as “Crazy,” “Toxic” and “Stronger”) were written by no less than 56 people including Spears, Max Martin (who wrote the songs used in “& Juliet”), Pharrell Williams, and Katy Perry.
The premise is interesting, even if it is familiar: fairy tale princesses (including Cinderella, Snow White, others) exist in a kind of backstage universe ruled over by a condescending narrator (Tony Award winner Adam Godley, who is as out of place as possible), where they wait for young readers to pick up their stories (with “Hit Me Baby One More Time” becoming “Pick Me Baby One More Time”).
Cinderella (Briga Heelan, in a blank performance), feeling dissatisfied with performing her story over and over and receiving no support from her prince (Justin Guarini, playing it up with panache) or stepmother (Jennifer Simard, portraying the character as bored and jaded), is gifted a copy of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” which awakens the drive, desire, and curiosity in her and the other princesses.
In the show’s most clever moment, it is discovered that Cinderella’s prince moonlights as the prince in all the other fairy tales. In response, the prince smirks, winks, and breaks into “Oops!…I Did It Again,” performed with hip-hop choreography reminiscent of the original music video.
I tried to approach “Once Upon a One More Time” with an open mind but eventually gave in to the reality that all of the songs sound the same (“Oops!…I Did It Again” and “Baby One More Time” are musically indistinguishable), the plotting is draggy and disjointed, he staging (with direction and choreography by Keone Madrid and Mari Madrid) is a hot mess, and the concept has been done before.
As is often the case with jukebox musicals, the real intended highlight is a celebratory mega-medley at curtain call, where all pretense of plot and character is abandoned and wristbands (which were previously handed out to audience members) light up. In other words, you wait two and a half hours for the party to get started.
Hit me baby one more time? No, thank you.
Marquis Theatre, 1553 Broadway, onemoretimemusical.com.
