Fairy tale princesses meet the Princess of Pop

Ashwaubenon High School Performing Arts will present the musical production of Once Upon A One More Time at the Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center Nov. 14, inviting audiences to have “the once upon a time of their lives.”

Powered by the chart-topping hits of Britney Spears, widely regarded as the Princess of Pop, Once Upon A One More Time turns favorite fairy tales upside down with a clever twist — when a fairy godmother goes rogue and plops copies of The Feminine Mystique in the laps of classic heroines, the damsels embark on a quest to rewrite their stories and redefine “happily ever after.”

“It’s a jukebox musical, similar to Mamma Mia where they take the songs of Abba and create a musical. This is 23 Britney Spears songs and they created this fairy tale story around it,” said Bernie Rocheleau, director of the show. “The basics of the story are the traditional fairy tale princesses — Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast are all there… At some point, the fairy godmother shows up and starts talking to Cinderall about how there’s more to life than just fairy tales. Happily ever after isn’t necessarily happily ever after if you’re not treated right… In the story, they find out that the prince is the same prince in every story, so he’s actually cheating on them… They decide they’re going to right and rewrite their stories.”

Rocheleau said that even though the show is packed with high-energy musical numbers and comedy, he and the cast hope that message isn’t lost.

“The message is something we always talk about with the kids,” Rocheleau said. “What are we asking? What do you want the audience to walk out of here with? They’re going to be happy and they’re going to be bouncy — it’s a feel-good thing. But what’s the message that you want to send? The message is that you need to tell your own story… It’s going to be entertaining and it’s going to be fun, but we don’t want to lose the message.”

And maintaining that message, along with learning all the dances, has been the most difficult part of putting the show together, Rocheleau said.

“We were a little concerned about the dancing, because there’s a lot of it and it’s all a very different style than most musicals — it’s that ‘90s pop Britney Spears,” Rocheleau said. “That’s what we thought would be a challenge because [the students] haven’t done that, at least not in a formal setting. We were concerned, but they’re knocking it out of the park. They’re going to be ready… It’s almost like a dance party at times, but the story’s still there… The danger of the jukebox musical is that you can get lost in the songs and the story doesn’t flow if everybody’s not on the same page, then the story doesn’t move forward.”

And just because the story features beloved fairy tale characters, Rocheleau warned that it’s not a show for children.

“It’s not a Disney princess story,” he said. “I imagine in my head parents bringing their little girls dressed up in princess costumes because they think it’s Disney and it’s not. The theme is very mature and the comedy is mature. We put PG-13 on it as kind of a warning… There’s a message that’s very adult but very important.”

Tickets for the show can be found at ashwaubenonpac.org.