Opinion: Is Fun Enough For a Good Broadway Musical?

Opinion: 
Is Fun Enough For a 

Good Broadway Musical?

 

 

The reviews I post are, I think, well-considered and honest. And I really enjoy getting your feedback. My favorite type of feedback might surprise you: when readers don't agree with me. Well, I'll be more specific. Even when readers don't agree with me, they are respectful and try to understand my views. Those are the kind I love, a dialog between true fans of the theater where differences of opinion are opportunities to learn, grow, and see things in a new way.

Then there are the ones where people are, well, mean. Accusatory. Insulting. It usually happens when I don't like a show. "You just didn't get it." "You like everything, so why are you dumping on this?" It's just as true when I like something where the court of social media has collectively turned up its nose at a show. You should have seen some of the emails I got when I liked Bad Cinderella.

But this time around, I really didn't like Once Upon a One More Time. Hell hath no fury like a Britney fan. Oh I heard it all. "You have no taste." "It was perfect. You must be old." (For the record, I've enjoyed Ms. Spears since her earliest hits when they actually came out, which does make me old, I guess.) But the most grating response, that I heard from multiple people, including a "legit critic" from a popular Broadway website, is that I don't like "fun" musicals. What??!!

Let me respond by saying when I see a new show, I assume I'll have fun. Maybe I need to explain this. For me, all musicals have the potential to be fun. Fun means that I was entertained. Maybe I laughed a lot. Maybe I cried. Maybe I was dazzled by big, splashy dance numbers, stunning sets and costumes. Or maybe I was awed by a sparse, but packed with theatricality, staging. My point is that Sondheim can be fun. Rogers and Hammerstein can be fun. An ABBA musical can be fun. So can a Britney Spears musical.

 

But is "fun" alone enough to make me love a show? Sure. Let's be honest, Mamma Mia and Moulin Rouge! are really meant to be fun diversions, and they are wildly successful musicals. Head Over Heels, the same thing, but not as successful. I loved all three, all for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they are simply fun. But they are all also very well staged. All are clever and even thought provoking. Their stories are simple but compelling, and their characters have depth, even in their silliest moments. None of these criteria are (in my opinion) in One More Time.

Although all of these examples are jukebox musicals - which seem to bring out the best and worst in theater fans - there are plenty of shows that are meant to be fun that are more traditional. The same year that Mamma Mia came to town, so too, did Urinetown and Thoroughly Modern Millie. The former was hilarious and irreverent, but it was also smart and clever, winning Best Book and Best Score. The latter was also meant only to be a fun extravaganza. It won Best Musical. I enjoyed all three - Urinetown checked all my musical theater boxes; Millie was a fun throwback (and the one I liked the least of the three). And yet it was Mamma Mia! that I saw an embarrassing number of times. I loved the music, the staging, and the characters. I was guaranteed to be swept away for two and a half hours.

Musical theater history is full of "fun" shows that want nothing more that to give audiences a good time: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Damn Yankees and Bye, Bye Birdie are great Golden Age examples. There is a reason that these shows are still produced and popular more than half a century after they were first produced. Every show doesn't even need to be a comedy to be fun. Look at Parade, The Band's Visit, Titanic. I loved them all and had a fun time at each. 

 

You see, fun for me is a show that makes me feel alive and better off than when I arrived at the theater. That means my mind, heart and appreciation for the effort have all been sated. I guess that the answer to the question posed in the title of this piece is no. Fun alone is not enough for a good Broadway musical.

For me it isn't. Maybe it is for you. I'm glad Once Upon a One More Time is there for you. And I won't call you names or call your taste into question.

REVIEW: Once Upon a One More Time

Review of the evening preview performance on Saturday, June 3, 2023 at the Marquis Theatre in New York City. Starring Briga Heelan, Justin Guarini, Jennifer Simard, Adam Godley, Brook Dillman, Aisha Jackson, Amy Hillner Larsen, Tess Soltau, Nathan Levy, Ryan Steele and Mila Weir. Book by Jon Hartmere. Based on the music performed and recorded by Britney Spears. Scenic design by Anna Fleischle. Costume design by Loren Elstein. Lighting design by Kenneth Posner. Sound design by Andrew Keister. Projection design by Sven Ortel. Creative consultant David Leveaux. Direction and choreography by Keone Madrid and Mari Madrid. 2 hours, 30 minutes, including one intermission.

Grade: F

Well, I'm sad to report that the 2023-2024 Broadway musical season is off to a ...weak start. Last season's similarly themed Bad Cinderella looks like a masterpiece compared to the loud, ugly mess that is Once Upon a One More Time. I can't remember the last time I have felt such empathetic embarrassment for a cast. And there is another change-the-narrative/female-empowerment-with-a-quill-pen-and-a-jukebox-score a few blocks over from the Marquis that is vastly superior in every way. They even share a few songs, each done better by Anne, Juliet and company.

     

The only two (and I do mean only) things that save this from being a complete failure are the invigorating presence of Justin Guarini as Prince Charming and Aisha Jackson as Snow White, who dominate the stage when they're on, and create a vacuum when they're off. A triple-threat of singing, comedic timing, and, surprise, dancing, Guarini is, as the kids say, living his best life up there. He truly understands the assignment: use pompous arrogance and vapid thoughts to be, well, charming. Similarly, the sassy delivery of Jackson as she morphs from silly, wide-eyed princess to empowered queen is a delight, and when she sings... wow! She shakes the rafters and wakes the bored among us right up.

Briga Heelan has the unenviable position of playing Cinderella. There have been way too many Cindys lately, and she suffers in comparison. Mostly, it's the cringey material she has to work with. With its forced plot points, forced laughs and annoying vapidity she is, I think, a stand-in for Ms. Spears. This may account for her on-the-verge-of-dumb-blonde nasal tone and line readings. She's also the only person in the whole cast who sings like Britney, only without the aid of lip-syncing to prerecorded tracks and digital fixes. I mean, she's literally the only one like this, so being a stand-in must be why. Right? (I'm grasping at straws here.) The rest of the featured princesses are okay, I guess, but after a while, they seem to blend into one royal blob. (I don't think the woman next to me ever understood who the princess from Princess and the Pea was, and only when the actress referred to herself as Rapunzel, did she get that one. I quote, "That's who that is!? Bitch needs more hair!")

Another set of characters that have appeared in too many similarly themed shows are the wicked/evil/misunderstood Stepmother and Step-sisters. This go round, they are, respectively, played by Jennifer Simard, Amy Hillner Larsen and Tess Soltau. The sisters, here called Belinda and Betany, are a screechy, unfunny duo - I gritted my teeth every time they entered. (The audience did love it when the one sister screamed, "It's Betany, bitch!") Even the always wonderful Simard is not good here. Sure she gets big laughs and gets to sing an...interesting... version of "Toxic," all while swaggering around the huge stage sounding like a young All About Eve era Bette Davis. But I think the rapturous online preview reviews she's gotten have to do with her past accomplishments, and even more to do with the fact that she's such a pro that even the combination of bad material and her "couldn't care less" demeanor makes it seem like it's another winning performance. I've always been baffled when I hear people say, "So and so looks bored the whole time." Not any more. I've seen it for myself here.

The inevitable narrator character (Adam Godley) is more of an annoyance than sinister ringmaster, and the other inevitable character - Fairy Godmother - (Brook Dillman) is just as ridiculous. OFG as they call her, dressed like a 50's housewife, spews platitudes and woman power slogans like she's reading a grocery list; Dillman reminds me of the Agatha character in WandaVision in her campy delivery, but decidedly less effectively. Where is Jackie Hoffman when you need her?

Aside from the fact that a revival of the greatest fractured fairy tale musical ever was on Broadway recently, and two other, vastly superior versions trod the boards last season, book writer Jon Hartmere, Jr. had a good idea here. He could have made something really interesting. But the plot is repetitive - how many princess club meetings must we sit through where the same material is covered every time? And there are potentially interesting sub-plots that just stop - what about that damned magic quill ominously glowing in a bubble over the stage? The best relationship in the whole thing is between a gay dwarf and a gay prince, which is saying something given how tired that trope is. Worst of all, the book never matches the songs used beyond the first few lines of each blending into the dialogue - sloppy punchlines where the rest of the song barely has anything to do with the characters or plot. Each song is, however, an excuse to dance.

Renowned in the music video world and for the occasional theatrical dance piece, Keone and Mari Madrid certainly put their dancers through their paces. And it is when the dancers dance that the show really picks up. The first few are quite good, until you realize that they are painfully repetitive (like the book). The formations - circles into a line that breaks into a "v" - over and over offer only diminishing returns. It says something about the choreography when a segment of "Oops, I Did It Again" is done to the original video dance routine and the audience screams in adoration. (At least that choreographer is credited in the Playbill.) Two-time Tony nominee Jennifer Weber has nothing to worry about. The Madrids are also responsible for the direction, which is pretty basic staging coupled with a woefully apparent lack of understanding about theme and book tightening. More than once, I thought to myself that the actors are directing themselves to see what sticks.

Don't let the pictures or the B-roll clip fool you, design-wise, this is a wholly unattractive production with the best thing being the garish to excess lighting by Kenneth Posner, who seems to get that he has the lion's share of work to do, with a mostly bare metallic box as his canvas. The set, what there is of it, by Anna Fleischle, is neither fairy tale-like nor nightmarish enough, and that box she put it in is... Anyway, Loren Elstein's costumes show some promise at first, when they pay tribute to their Disney/Grimm counterparts, but fall apart in act two when the Princess 2.0 cavalcade begins - each coming out looking like they got hastily wrapped up in yards of sequinned material from the discontinued bin at Walmart. And why do these things always make female empowerment mean looking like hookers? I can't believe that the same guy (Sven Ortel) who did the stunning projections for Parade was responsible for the ugliness seen here. Andrew Keister's sound had one volume - loud.

In a one-quarter or less filled mezzanine on a Saturday night, the people that did come seemed to have a good time. I'm glad for them, really. They came for Britney and they got Britney. Loud and dance-y. But I know at least one group of people who were disappointed. The ladies next to me sang loud and proud with each song, that is, until a lyric changed. Then they stopped and picked up again when they knew the lyrics. "Why do they keep messing up the words?" They were less enthusiastic as the show wore on. Maybe it didn't matter to them that the songs had so little to do with the plot.

They say in the show that well-behaved princesses rarely make history. Neither do rotten musicals. If pop hits and girl power re-write is what you need, head over to the Sondheim and grab tickets for & Juliet.  

📸: M. Murphy 

2023-2024 Broadway Musical Logos: Once Upon a One More Time

Here we are just a week after the Tony Awards, and we already have a new logo to dive into! Opening later this week, the Britney Spears musical is yet another catalog jukeboxer that presents a fractured fairy tale scenario of female empowerment. How successful a venture this is as a show, we will discuss later; today, we will discuss just how successful their advertising is.

2023-2024 Broadway Musical Logos:
Once Upon a One More Time 

Google "Britney Spears Butterfly" if you aren't a hardcore fan, and it will enlighten you (maybe) as to why the species figures so prominently in the show's logo. And given that it looks like it is made out of lights, one might think that this is some sort of concert. This is by design I'm sure, however ethically murky that might be. Do butterflies figure into the show at all, or are they just a Brit signal?

Now add words. The font, right off Microsoft Word, is vaguely fairy tale-ish - royal, if you will - and in shiny Cinderella blue. Kudos to the marketing design team for making a clever tagline, ending with Ms. Spears' name in bright white and second only to most of the title in size. The biggest part of the title, "One More Time," references her biggest hit, of course. The part of the otherwise moderately clever title, is, let's be honest, nearly invisible. Again, I have to ask, is this a call to Britney fans, and not musical fans (there are a lot of overlaps between those two groups)? Is this a Brit and Switch here?

Another iteration of the logo has a much more appropriate, show themed tagline, changing "powered by" with "empowered by." The latter is also a much more trendy buzz word. On the other hand, maybe it's a little too smart. (Who is their target audience?) At least it recognizes that it is actually a musical and not a concert. This one is the better of the two so far.

Again, kudos to their team for trying to evolve their logo. Perhaps after a few surveys of the public, they realized they needed to add something to get potential ticket buyers to see what the show is really about.  Adding the princesses to the logo is probably a good idea. And I like the blend of Disney Princess posing with 21st century girl power poses. Definitely adds to advertising the show not just Spears. And the rainbow... Happy Pride!

    

    

And yet, something about feels a little too... familiar... copycat-ish. Famous females as rock stars. I mean, six queens should set the standard for six princesses...

I hope the show is better, fresher, than this logo.

Grade: D

Looking Forward to Summer: June - August 2023

Hard to believe it's already summer, isn't it? For us Broadway fans, this summer has shaped up to be a busy one. Usually, the post-Tony Awards months are pretty dry. This year, however, two shows began previews (one of those, Grey House, has opened), and several others are gearing up to do the same.  

Before we dive into what we are looking forward to, though, as always we look back. During the spring months, we saw six Broadway shows and two regional productions. In the D.C. area, we caught Pacific Overtures (A+) and Spamalot (B), while we saw Life of Pi (A+), Bad Cinderella (B+), Bob Fosse's Dancin' (A), Shucked (A+), Camelot (C-), and Sweeney Todd (A+) on the Main Stem. That's a solid A average. Not bad!

Looking Forward to Summer:
June - August 2023

Regional:

The Play That Goes Wrong (Kennedy Center)
After hearing so much about this over the years from friends and readers, when the chance came up to add this to our subscription, it was a no-brainer. I look forward to my sides hurting from laughing so hard.

Broadway:

Parade (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre)

One of two shows we have left to see from last season (but still before the Tonys!), I think I'm most looking forward to this one. The score alone is worth seeing it for, but the casting is just as thrilling. Can't wait to see Micaela Diamond, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and the wonderful Howard McGillin.

New York, New York (St. James Theatre)

The other last season holdover, this one will complete our "see every new musical this season" list. Looking forward to a Kander & Ebb score, seeing some great Susan Stroman choreography, and witnessing some new generation talent in Tony nominee Colton Ryan.

Once Upon a One More Time (Marquis Theatre)

I like Britney Spears okay enough, though the fractured fairy tales sub-genre is starting to wear thin. Still, what looks to be some amazing choreography, Justin Guarini and Jennifer Simard are enough to make our list. My low expectations are tempered by the hope that this will, at the very least, be a fun evening.

Here Lies Love (Broadway Theatre)

We loved this when we saw it at the Public a few years ago, and we are looking forward to see it in this new environment, along with seeing some great original cast members and exciting new ones! Controversy aside, I'm excited to revisit this one!

Back to the Future (Winter Garden Theatre)

Great Scott! Casey Likes and Roger Bart are reason enough to put this one on our list. And while we are growing weary of film to stage musicals like most of you, this title is one of my all-time favorite films (I'm a Gen-Xer, after all), and I'm excited to see just how they do it.

Off-Broadway:

The Light in the Piazza (City Center - Encores!)

A gorgeous score played by a full orchestra, and a beautiful show that goes with it is all it takes to make it on our "must see" list. But add to that an opportunity to see the always miraculous Ruthie Ann Miles? We can't get there fast enough!