When thinking of making a cross-industrial business plan for a Broadway show, the jukebox musical Once Upon a One More Time came to my mind. I watched this show in July last year and I love this musical so much! The speciality of this musical is that it features many Britney Spears’ hit songs, including “Lucky,” Circus,” and “Oops I Did It Again,”1 along with the casting of many well-known fairytale characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Prince Charming.2 However, this musical changes the ending of the original fairy tale stories, and we can tell from the title of the musical itself, “Once Upon a One More Time.” It challenges the traditional ending of the “happily ever after,” the same ending we always see when we were a kid.
In short, this musical talks about Cinderella wanting to read books other than Grimm’s Fairy Tales and the godmother fulfilling her wish by giving a book called The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Betty Friedan is an American feminist writer, and this book mainly talks about the unfair treatment of women in society, such as the stereotypes of women having to take care of children at home.3 She believed that women should have the right to get an education and laws to protect themselves.4 The New Woman ideas from The Feminine Mystique inspire all the princesses to gain a new viewpoint and think differently about themselves. They realize their destiny should neither be determined by their beauty nor wait for the prince to kiss them to survive. In the end, each of the princesses is able to write their own and have a real happy ever after.
Let’s begin with the first part of my cross-industrial business plan for Once Upon a One More Time. Combining the use of Britney Spears’ songs and the plot of this musical, I think it would be great if someone could make a film version of it. My dream cast for the film version will be Taylor Swift playing Cinderella, Florence Pugh playing Snow White, Timothée Chalamet playing Prince Charm, and if it’s possible, I would hope Britney Spears plays the godmother!
Especially since Taylor Swift wrote a lot of songs about women’s empowerment and self-discovery, I think she is a good fit. Florence Pugh is very good at acting and has a good voice. Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet also has proved his singing skills and his charmless in Wonka. Britney Spears has significantly influenced the new generation and has inspired many women artists, such as Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande. I think she is perfect to play the godmother. The joining of these stars in this movie would bring huge attention to the film. The strong fanbase of each actor and actress would allow the movie to get a big box office success. Moreover, I think the production team can also partner with a major studio such as Warner Bros and Universal Pictures. By partnering with a film studio, it will be easier to reach a global audience, and they can release the film via theaters and online streaming later.
For music, I want to make a remix for the songs that are being used in the film version of Once Upon a One More Time. The production team can find some famous DJs to help them remix Britney Spears’ songs, which could give a new taste to the audience so that they won’t think, “This is just a musical film with Britney Spears’ songs.” I wish Marshmello could make the remix version because he is good at emphasizing catchy and melodic synth lines, and Britney Spears’ songs are very bouncy and uplifting. Imagine if Marshmello produced a remix of “Womanizer”? BOOM! I am sure that this collaboration will give some sparks for the music!
On the other hand, creating a soundtrack album for the musical film would be a good idea too. I believe there will be many fans who want to listen to the newly arranged Britney Spears songs sung by the cast. If Britney Spears is going to sing with Taylor Swift in this film, there will likely be a massive number of people who would like to listen to this album. The creation of a soundtrack album is an absolute must and will undoubtedly be a significant cultural movement in the 21st century. The more people stream the music album or purchase the soundtrack online, the more royalties the artists and the company can get.
Merchandising is also a significant part of the cross-industrial business plan because it needs to generate more revenue to recover the cost of film production and earn profits, in addition to the box office ticket sales. Connected to what I mentioned in the music part, if they made a soundtrack album, we can also make vinyl and exclusive CD albums for the fans who love to have something physically in hand. Not only physical albums, they can also produce other products such as toys, clothes, accessories, and cosmetics. My target is consumers from a wide range of age groups. Imagine if people brought their children to the theater to watch this movie and they saw the new edition dolls of Snow White, Cinderella, and The Little Mermaid. Won’t you want to buy one for your kids? Even if the adults don’t want to buy the merchandise, their children will ask their parents to buy one for them. Besides, creating a partnership with different brands would also help with the revenue. For example, we can make a themed makeup line based on the crossover of “Taylor Swift X Disney Princess,” and we can also ask some jewelry brands to collaborate with so that the actress will wear them in the film as a win-win promotion.
- Here is an example of how the themed merchandise will be looked like.
Even though some critics say this musical show is “pure dumb,”5 I will still go to the theater and watch the film if there is one. Britney Spears’ songs are legendary and I like the positive message conveyed from the story that women can also use their power to find a road to get a happy ending on their own. This musical is easy to understand. Even for people who don’t understand English, they can watch it without stress because they know most of the characters and plot already. With the help of star power, I don’t think the film will fail as much as the critics might say so. Personally, if I go to watch a jukebox musical, I won’t look for originality. I just want to hear songs that I am familiar with and enjoy watching some captivating dance performances.
- https://variety.com/2023/legit/news/britney-spears-musical-once-upon-a-one-more-time-closing-broadway-1235701396/ ↩︎
- https://playbill.com/article/britney-spears-musical-once-upon-a-one-more-time-to-play-chicago-eyes-broadway ↩︎
- Friedan, Betty (1963). “The Problem that Has No Name”. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2011-02-18. ↩︎
- Friedan, Betty (1963). “The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud”. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton. Retrieved 2011-02-18. ↩︎
- https://apnews.com/article/britney-spears-broadway-musical-review-1ffe5baca1d45e850f71b6eed4195acd ↩︎
