Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical to Debut in London
Gwyneth Paltrow’s legal battle with a skiing optometrist is getting the musical treatment.
“Gwyneth Goes Skiing” is set to debut in London this December from self-described “harbingers of queer chaos” Awkward Productions.
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Linus Karp will star as Paltrow while Terry Sanderson, the optometrist who collided with her on a Utah ski slope in 2016, is played by Joseph Martin. The show also features original musical by singer and songwriter Leland (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”).
“Gwyneth Goes Skiing” is based on the court trial between Paltrow and Sanderson that took place earlier this year. Sanderson filed suit against the “Sliding Doors” star after their collision, claiming he was left with a concussion, four broken ribs and a brain injury. He originally sought $3.1 million in compensation. Paltrow, who said Sanderson was the one who had skied into her, counter-sued for $1 and attorney fees.
The televised two-week trial became a viral hit and saw clips from Paltrow’s testimony turn into memes, including the moment after the crash when she screamed at Sanderson: “You skied directly into my effing back!”
A jury ultimately found in Paltrow’s favor.
“She’s the Goop-founding, Door-Sliding, Shakespeare-In-Loving, consciously-uncoupling Hollywood superstar. He’s a retired Optometrist from Utah. In 2016, they went skiing,” reads the logline for “Gwyneth Goes Skiing.” “On the slopes of Deer Valley, their worlds collided, and so did they – literally. Ouch. Seven years later in 2023, they went to court. Double ouch. This is their story. Kind of. Not really. But also, it’s at Christmas.”
The show at London’s Pleasance Theatre, which runs for 10 days from Dec. 13, will see audience members participate as the jury.
It isn’t the first celebrity trial to be dramatized in recent years. The legal battle between British soccer wives Colleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy last year has been the subject of a stage play, TV drama and multiple documentaries, including most recently “Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story” on Disney+.
Karp is currently starring as Princess Diana in Awkward Production’s staging of “Diana: The Untold & Untrue Story,” described as “The most unhinged piece of theatre in existence” by website Broadway Baby.
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