Alex ArgerFirst comes the crash, then comes a meme-worthy trial (we're looking at you "I wish you well") and finally there's … a stage musical?
Though one of these things is not like the other, that's what's happening for Gwyneth Paltrow's now-famous ski crash and the legal battle that followed.
From Awkward Productions, a theater group who call themselves "harbingers of queer chaos," comes "Gwyneth Goes Skiing: a story of love, betrayal, skiing, and (somehow) Christmas."
"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," Pleasance Theater shared on its website. "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 production will star Linus Karp as Paltrow and Joseph Martin as the optometrist, Terry Sanderson. It will also feature original music from singer/songwriter Leland.
The story — at least, in real life — starts back in 2016, when Paltrow and Sanderson collided on a Utah slope. Sanderson then sued the Oscar-winning actress for $300,000, alleging she recklessly caused the incident with her "out of control" skiing on the beginner's slope and left him with lasting issues, including a traumatic brain injury.
Paltrow denied the claims and countersued for $1 and attorney fees, claiming it was Sanderson who caused the incident by crashing into her.
Then in March, the two-week, televised trial ended with a jury finding Sanderson "100%" at fault," awarding Paltrow the symbolic $1.
The trial became a trending topic across social media, particularly when Paltrow won and whispered "I wish you well" to Sanderson as she left the courtroom.
Now London audiences can relive it again when the 90-minute musical skis across the Pleasance Theater stage from Dec. 13 to Dec. 23.
