Alice Vol. 7 No. 5

evolution
of musical theater
On Dec. 25, 2020, the Netflix original
series “Bridgerton” debuted to 82
million households. Based on Julia Quinn’s
popular romance series of the same name, the TV
show became the second most-watched Netflix
series by total watch time on the platform.
The show, which is set in Regency-era
England, became a huge hit on TikTok. From
reactions to the series to fan edits, the title has
gained over 430 million mentions on the app.
However, one of the most popular series of videos
came from creators Abigail Barlow and Emily
Bear, who began to create videos entitled “What If
Bridgerton Was a Musical?”
Barlow, a singer/songwriter, and Bear, a
composer, producer and singer/songwriter,
gained millions of views from their songs
based on the Bridgerton characters. Within
two months of collaborating over their first
song, “Ocean Away,” the duo composed and
recorded 15 tracks to create “The Unofficial
Bridgerton Musical.”
The album debuted in the top 10 iTunes of
worldwide pop albums, and in 2021, it was
nominated for a Grammy for best musical
theater album.
Keith Cromwell, executive director of Red
Mountain Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama,
has witnessed Barlow’s genius firsthand.
Barlow, who was a member of Red Mountain
Theatre’s youth ensemble for many years,
once attended an alumni concert at the
theatre and created live recordings with a
small amount of equipment.
“I remember coming out after she finished
her set and saying, ‘This is someone who we
will be hearing a lot about in the future,’” said
Cromwell.
Barlow and Bear’s success with “The
Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” has brought
legitimacy to a quickly-growing form of
musical theater, Tik-Tok driven projects.
“Musical Without a Cool Acronym,” an
By Jolie Money
Design Sarah Smith
unofficial parody musical based on Disney’s
animated TV show “Phineas & Ferb,” is
another musical that found popularity on
TikTok with over 5 million mentions.
Caitlin Garnett, a sophomore hospitality
management major at The University of
Alabama, was scrolling through Tik Tok when
she came across a casting call for “Musical
Without a Cool Acronym.”
“They had a site where you sent in an
audition tape singing a few bars of music for
whatever character you wanted. Then, they
emailed us. When I got my email, I was cast in
the ensemble, so I got to play a lot of different
characters, which was exciting,” said Garnett.
Andrew Grabowski, the writer of “Musical
Without a Cool Acronym,” had previously
performed the show in person, but during the
COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to move the
musical online. This way, performers from all
over the world could get involved.
“One of my favorite things about the show is
that I have castmates from Argentina, China,
Indonesia, Canada and all over the states,”
said Garnett. “People from all over the world
came together in a way that they never would
have been able to otherwise.”
Most of the musical was recorded on the
video call app, Discord. When cast members
lived close enough to record together, they
would meet up and film together. After a year
of recording and promoting on TikTok and
Instagram, the full musical was posted to
YouTube and has now gained over 52,000
views.
Garnett attributed some of the musical’s
success to being released soon after
“Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical,” which was
a crowdsourced musical based on Disney’s
animated movie “Ratatouille.”
“Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” began
as one song by TikTok user Emily Jacobsen,
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