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Wednesday, September 04, 2024
You Better Work! Adapting the Britney Spears Musical for Broadway Junior
Playbill: Broadway's Britney Spears jukebox musical Once Upon a One More Time was short-lived in its original run at the Marquis Theatre, but now it's ready for a new life and a new venue: a middle school near you.
5 comments:
Felix Eisenberg
said...
I found this article very interesting. I love Britney Spears as an icon and a singer. It's really great to see her legacy being honored in this way, especially with the main message of that feminist culture and really encouraging young people to forge their own stories and their own paths. I think it's so cool the different things that jukebox musicals can do by taking these songs written for pop mainstream media and turning them into something like a ballad or really just amplifying the song as a whole. I really wonder if any schools would do this show for a mainstage production, because all of the genuine meanings of moving shows are part of this one, and not only would it be a great way to honor Spears legacy but also just have some fun on stage! I think as theater evolves, we're going to see a lot more tribute and jukebox musicals arise.
I didn’t know that Britney Spears had a jukebox musical. While I have no idea if it is a good show or one that would be interesting to see a bunch of middle school kids doing it, I think from Playbill’s article it sounds harmless enough. A lot of musicals like Legally Blonde, Heather, and other young adult lead character shows get turned into or illegally adapted onto children stages in middle and high schools that often fail at being a good show because what made the original so good had to be sanitized for the new audience age. I think shows with adult themes and jokes should be left as adult-performed shows and that companies and schools that produce theatre should just pick shows appropriate for the children’s ages. I hate when good songs are sanitized or made awkward. But like I said, if this show is really about a fractured fairytale that empowers princesses to lead their own path I see no awkward youtube videos to float through my recommendations displaying a miserably produced version,
It is so interesting that I saw this article pop up today because I was scrolling through Netflix this afternoon and saw a movie called “Crossroads” starring Britney Spears! What an awesome coincidence! You Better Work! is something that I had never heard of before reading this article. Although I'm not one for jukebox musicals, I do love a good Britney moment. MTI always never ceases to pull out all of the stops when creating its next big production. with all this wild Britney hullabaloo going on what better time to create a musical about her for young artists to explore. I was only exposed to Once Upon A one more time recently and didn't even know that you better work related to it. “Just as the little girl reading her bedtime stories in the show learns from her favorite princesses as they take the reins on their own stories, the young actors that will perform this musical at their school or local theatre group will get to internalize that message even more as they work to tell that story to their audiences.” The heart of this message is truly important and piques my interest and desire to see the script.
This is absolutely iconic. I remember hearing about this show and thinking that it could either go really well or really poorly and then unfortunately, it closed so quickly I wasn’t even able to get to New York in time to see it. At the time, I thought it was just because it wasn’t a very good show but now I realize it just hadn't found its niche. This show is a fun, poppy, and very silly jukebox musical and that is something that just didn’t appeal to the Broadway audiences. While there have been a lot of jukebox musicals recently, this one may have just been a step too far for the average Broadway ticket buyer. However, it seems to fit perfectly into the Broadway Junior world. I can absolutely see a middle school or maybe middle-high school doing this show and it being perfect for them. It’s short, sweet, and the songs are popular enough that everyone will already know and love them.
This sounds so fun! I had the privilege of seeing Once Upon a One More Time’s run on Broadway, and it was an absolute gem of a show. Vivid in color, humor, and character (not to mention the costumes!!), it was filled with both fun and feminism - not to mention, the feminism in the show is also kid-accessible, meaning put into simple terms, even if the complexity behind the lines isn’t necessarily explained. Put it all together, and you do indeed get a great opportunity for ‘Broadway Junior’ - though I so wish the show had a longer run! The coincidence with Britney Spears’ conservatorship ending with the beginning of the show was certainly odd, not to mention the show being about ‘owning your own story’. I wonder what the adaptation process for the songs was (besides the song ‘Work, Kid’ which I find hilarious).
5 comments:
I found this article very interesting. I love Britney Spears as an icon and a singer. It's really great to see her legacy being honored in this way, especially with the main message of that feminist culture and really encouraging young people to forge their own stories and their own paths. I think it's so cool the different things that jukebox musicals can do by taking these songs written for pop mainstream media and turning them into something like a ballad or really just amplifying the song as a whole. I really wonder if any schools would do this show for a mainstage production, because all of the genuine meanings of moving shows are part of this one, and not only would it be a great way to honor Spears legacy but also just have some fun on stage! I think as theater evolves, we're going to see a lot more tribute and jukebox musicals arise.
I didn’t know that Britney Spears had a jukebox musical. While I have no idea if it is a good show or one that would be interesting to see a bunch of middle school kids doing it, I think from Playbill’s article it sounds harmless enough. A lot of musicals like Legally Blonde, Heather, and other young adult lead character shows get turned into or illegally adapted onto children stages in middle and high schools that often fail at being a good show because what made the original so good had to be sanitized for the new audience age. I think shows with adult themes and jokes should be left as adult-performed shows and that companies and schools that produce theatre should just pick shows appropriate for the children’s ages. I hate when good songs are sanitized or made awkward. But like I said, if this show is really about a fractured fairytale that empowers princesses to lead their own path I see no awkward youtube videos to float through my recommendations displaying a miserably produced version,
It is so interesting that I saw this article pop up today because I was scrolling through Netflix this afternoon and saw a movie called “Crossroads” starring Britney Spears! What an awesome coincidence! You Better Work! is something that I had never heard of before reading this article. Although I'm not one for jukebox musicals, I do love a good Britney moment. MTI always never ceases to pull out all of the stops when creating its next big production. with all this wild Britney hullabaloo going on what better time to create a musical about her for young artists to explore. I was only exposed to Once Upon A one more time recently and didn't even know that you better work related to it. “Just as the little girl reading her bedtime stories in the show learns from her favorite princesses as they take the reins on their own stories, the young actors that will perform this musical at their school or local theatre group will get to internalize that message even more as they work to tell that story to their audiences.” The heart of this message is truly important and piques my interest and desire to see the script.
This is absolutely iconic. I remember hearing about this show and thinking that it could either go really well or really poorly and then unfortunately, it closed so quickly I wasn’t even able to get to New York in time to see it. At the time, I thought it was just because it wasn’t a very good show but now I realize it just hadn't found its niche. This show is a fun, poppy, and very silly jukebox musical and that is something that just didn’t appeal to the Broadway audiences. While there have been a lot of jukebox musicals recently, this one may have just been a step too far for the average Broadway ticket buyer. However, it seems to fit perfectly into the Broadway Junior world. I can absolutely see a middle school or maybe middle-high school doing this show and it being perfect for them. It’s short, sweet, and the songs are popular enough that everyone will already know and love them.
This sounds so fun! I had the privilege of seeing Once Upon a One More Time’s run on Broadway, and it was an absolute gem of a show. Vivid in color, humor, and character (not to mention the costumes!!), it was filled with both fun and feminism - not to mention, the feminism in the show is also kid-accessible, meaning put into simple terms, even if the complexity behind the lines isn’t necessarily explained. Put it all together, and you do indeed get a great opportunity for ‘Broadway Junior’ - though I so wish the show had a longer run! The coincidence with Britney Spears’ conservatorship ending with the beginning of the show was certainly odd, not to mention the show being about ‘owning your own story’. I wonder what the adaptation process for the songs was (besides the song ‘Work, Kid’ which I find hilarious).
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