Britney Spears' musical "Once Upon A One More Time" to close Sunday

[Ali Gator]

"Once Upon A One More Time"  - the Britney Spears 'jukebox musical' which was in the making for the past 4 years - announced last week it will be closing this Sunday, September 3.  The 'fairy tale' musical, which is based on Spears' most popular songs from her catalog, is expected to lose every penny of its $20 Million investment. The musical will have played 123 performances since it opened to mostly poor reviews back in June. 

The musical was first proposed in 2019, with a US opening in Chicago. But those plans were delayed until the Spring of 2020, and then canceled due to the pandemic. The show finally opened in late 2021, at the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, D.C. Critics were very harsh, but sales were strong during its run. It then announced a Broadway opening for June 22, 2023. Reviews were harsh once again, and sales were low during its opening week - grossing just over $700,000 which proved not enough to keep a musical of this size alive. For the week ending August 13, sales slumped to just over $500,000 with theater attendance dropping to less than 50%. 

Spears herself endorsed the show  on her social media when it opened in D.C. and again when it opened on Broadway. However, what her relationship to the show was exactly had never been made clear. Spears never attended any of the public performances, and her fan base never seemed to organize any support for it on social media. 

The producers of the show said they will concentrate on a national tour for 2024, and international productions, as well. The show is the latest in a long line of Broadway productions to close abruptly within months, since audiences diminished during the pandemic, and costs and ticket prices skyrocketed.