The Insane-Sounding Britney Spears Musical Will Premiere In Chicago Before Heading To Broadway
The show must go on – even if it means replacing the Gloved One with Our Lady of Cheetos. Ever since Leaving Neverland came out, radio stations and many ears have been thinking twice before playing Thriller or any other Michael Jackson album. The documentary details long-time sexual abuse allegations against MJ that were pretty horrific, so it seems now isn’t the best time to ask people to shell out Benjis on TicketMaster to hear old King of Pop hits. Chicago, you’re in luck! You get Britney Spears instead!
Deadline says Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough was due to have a pre-Broadway run in Chicago from October 29 through December 1, but now the producers and the Jackson Estate have decided to just take it straight to Broadway in 2020. Instead, the team behind the magically named Britney musical, Once Upon A One More Time, is getting the slot, and Britney couldn’t be more thrilled:
“I’m so excited to have a musical with my songs – especially one that takes place in such a magical world filled with characters that I grew up on, who I love and adore. This is a dream come true for me!”
Unlike Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, which was going to be a bio-musical that profiled Michael Jackson and his dancers getting ready for 1992’s Dangerous Tour, Once Upon A One More Time is going to be about feminist-in-training fairytale characters.
Once Upon a One More Time is described as an irreverent musical comedy in which Cinderella, Snow White, and the other fairytale princesses gather for their book club, when a rogue fairy godmother drops The Feminine Mystique “into their corseted laps, spurring a royal revelation. Could there really be more to life than bird-made dresses and true love’s kiss?”
Give this thing a Tony Award already!
The Michael Jackson musical was cancelled just a few weeks before Leaving Neverland came out on HBO, and most people figured they wanted to avoid backlash from the doc impacting ticket sales. MJ’s estate and the musical’s producers said that was BS and that it was all because of a 33-day actor strike that ended in early February messing up their rehearsal schedule. Actor’s Equity, the union that led the strike, said the MJ BS was BS:
“The developmental lab that was scheduled for this production was delayed by 12 working days during the strike. It is difficult to understand how a modest delay in February would impact a run that was scheduled for late October.”
For now, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough is still expected to arrive on Broadway in 2020, but it may as well not even bother trying. Cinderella sadly singing “Lucky” in coochie cutters on a tire swing is going to make Hamilton look like community theater!
Pic: Wenn.com