Gwyneth Paltrow’s high-profile skiing lawsuit is now a musical: Gwyneth Goes Skiing.
The production will debut in London on December 13 with a 10-day run at London’s Pleasance Theatre and tells the story of Gwyneth Paltrow’s skiing lawsuit, which saw the star sued by an optometrist following a collision on a Utah ski slope in 2016.
“She’s the Goop-founding, Door-Sliding, Shakespeare-In-Loving, consciously-uncoupling Hollywood superstar,” reads the musical’s logline. “He’s a retired Optometrist from Utah. In 2016, they went 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.”
It's us! Gwyneth Goes Skiing will be at @ThePleasance 13-23 Dec ⛷️❄️
— #UntrueDiana and #JellicleShow (@AwkwardProds) November 15, 2023
It's a comedic play with songs (not quite a musical, but don't let that stop you - esp when the music is by @LelandOfficial)
?in bio pic.twitter.com/jz9dPDqsGf
Optometrist Terry Sanderson shot to fame in 2023 after filing a suit against Paltrow for the skiing collisions he claimed left him with concussion, four broken ribs and a brain injury. He sought $3.1 million compensation for his injuries, claiming Paltrow had collided with him. However a judge dismissed the claim, removing the Deer Valley Ski Resort and its instructors from the suit.
Sanderson then sued Paltrow for $300,000, but Paltrow counter-sued for $1 plus legal fees, claiming it was, in fact, Sanderson who skied into her. The televised trial became a viral sensation, with clips of Paltrow’s testimony flooding social media. “You skied directly into my effing back,” she famously said.
A jury eventually ruled in Paltrow’s favour, leaving Sanderson to pay the $1 plus Paltrow’s legal fees, which are thought to have reached seven figures. Sanderson later said suing Paltrow had “absolutely not” been worth it.
Gwyneth Goes Skiing stars Linus Karp as Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Martin as optometrist Terry Sanderson. The show also features original music by Leland, who has been the resident sing/songwriter on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and co-wrote Kardashian: The Musical.
Want to read more about Gwyneth Paltrow? Find out whether Gwyneth Paltrow would return to the MCU as well as how she had no idea she was in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Image credit: Photo by Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty Images Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
