The collision at a Utah ski resort that prompted last spring’s high-profile civil trial between Gwyneth Paltrow and a 76-year-old retired optometrist will also set the backdrop for an upcoming musical debuting in December at a cabaret theater in London.
The musical “Gwyneth Goes Skiing” is scheduled to open Dec. 13 at London’s Pleasance Theatre. It is booked for a limited run at the venue through Dec. 23.
A description of “Gwyneth Goes Skiing,” shared online at the theater’s website, describes the parodied take on Paltrow’s widely publicized legal battle earlier this year as “a brand new show for Christmas 2023.” Performers Linus Karp and Joseph Martin will play Paltrow and Terry Sanderson, the retired optometrist who sued her. The dance pop and electronic singer-songwriter Leland, known for “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” created an original score.
“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,” the description reads. “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,” the description goes on. “A story of love, betrayal, skiing, and (somehow) Christmas – where you are the jury!”
The trial involved a 2016 collision between Paltrow and Sanderson while both were skiing at the Deer Valley resort in Park City, Utah. Sanderson initially sued Paltrow for $3 million and then lowered the amount to “more than $300,000” in damages, claiming the “Shakespeare In Love” actor was responsible for the collision that, he said, left him injured years earlier.
Paltrow went on to file a counter suit against Sanderson, for $1 and attorneys’ fees, and was eventually deemed not responsible for the Park City incident by a jury that determined after a fairly short round of deliberations that Sanderson was at fault.
“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement after the verdict. “I am pleased with the outcome and I appreciate all of the hard work of Judge Holmberg and the jury, and thank them for their thoughtfulness in handling this case.”
