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Tony Award winning producers James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold are pleased to announce additional cast for the Broadway premiere of Once Upon A One More Time, the new musical comedy that flips the script on famous fairytales, powered by the music of Grammy Award-winning international pop icon Britney Spears. The Broadway production will star two-time Tony Award nominee Jennifer Simard (Company, Mean Girls) as Stepmother, and two-time Tony Award nominee Adam Godley (The Lehman Trilogy, Hulu’s “The Great”) as The Narrator. They join previously announced stars 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.
Helmed by internationally acclaimed, Drama Desk-nominated Director & Choreographers Keone & Mari Madrid (Beyond Babel, Karate Kid), the musical begins previews Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the Marquis Theatre in New York City, and celebrates its opening night on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com/877-250-2929.
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. I predict it will be an intergenerational smash.”
Once Upon A One More Time features an original story written by Jon Hartmere (bare, The Upside) that flips the script on your favorite fairytale icons. Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid and other classic storybook characters gather for their fortnightly book club, when—oh baby, baby! —a rogue fairy godmother grants their wish for a new story, by dropping The Feminine Mystique into their corseted laps. The arrival of this new tome spurs a royal revelation: there is more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss! The ultimate revisionist fairytale for anyone who yearns to feel "stronger than yesterday,” Once Upon A One More Time weaves the chart-topping anthems of the Princess of Pop herself, Britney Spears – including "Oops I Did It Again," "Lucky," "Circus," and "Toxic" – into a heartwarming and uproarious musical adventure about taking happily ever after into your own hands.
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).
Additional cast will be announced at a later date. Once Upon A One More Time was originally developed and produced by Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington D.C. (Simon Godwin, Artistic Director; Chris Jennings, Executive Director).