Taylor Swift musical?

[Globefan]

Posted: 8/17/20 at 2:48pm

Do you think Taylor Swift's music will ever make it to Broadway, either as a jukebox musical of her existing songs or new songs written specifically for the show? Would you rather it be a fictional story like Mamma Mia! or biographical? She has a certain theatrical flair. 

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 5:17pm

I'd love a Taylor Swift musical. I don't think that her life story is particularly interesting enough to be a musical but I think that her music would fit a musical wonderfully.

 

Additionally, I'd love to see her write an original score for a musical. She is such a brilliant lyricist that I think she would do great with a full score. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 5:24pm

She already kind of told a story with Folklore. I think she would do a great job writing a musical. I wonder if her name being attached would be more of a burden, like Sting with The Last Ship or a benefit, like Sara Bareilles with waitress.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 6:48pm

Littleshopofcarrie said: "I'd love a Taylor Swift musical. I don't think that her life story is particularly interesting enough to be a musical but I think that her music would fit a musical wonderfully.



Additionally, I'd love to see her write an original score for a musical. She is such a brilliant lyricist that I think she would do great with a full score."

THIS. Attach her to appealing source material, and she COULD make miracles happen. However, there is no guarantee that a mainstream songwriter like her can swimmingly make the jump from pop music to Broadway theatre. We've seen both successes and flops in this case, as Jorge just pointed out.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 6:49pm

Please no.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/18/20 at 7:30pm

I’d much rather see her write an original musical.

I know there is a different team working on it, but I think she’d be perfect to score THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/19/20 at 2:17pm

I'd be a lot more interested in seeing her write an original musical than a jukebox or biopic (yes she's done some interesting things but I don't know if I want a musical about her life). What I'm most intrigued about is that a lot of her songs are self contained stories(even in folklore where the songs interconnect) so it would be interesting to see what she could do if she wrote all the songs to a larger story and if she could get that musical cohesion across the entire show and not just song to song.

[PutonyourWarPaint]

Posted: 8/25/20 at 4:29pm

SWIFTICAL: The Musical

My favorite song: Let Me Sh*t  Alone in a Box

Updated On: 8/25/20 at 04:29 PM

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 11:41am

Would be fun if it stars Jake Gyllenhaal, now that we got the 10-minute version of All Too Well, which throws some new shades at Jake and is accompanied by a 14-minute short that hmm doesn’t look good for him to say the least. Newly added lyrics include: “And I was never good at telling jokes but the punch line goes
I'll get older but your lovers stay my age”

Ouch.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 11:45am

I obviously now dislike Taylor Swift. 

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 12:23pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I obviously now dislike Taylor Swift."

In general, her obsessive fanbase really turns me off her. It isn't 100% fair, but it is what it is.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 12:37pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I wonder if her name being attached would be more of a burden, like Sting with The Last Ship"

 

At the risk of thread-jacking, just curious why you feel that Sting's name was a burden on The Last Ship? The score was widely regarded to be the best part of the show. And while his name might not have saved the show, I can't see how it could have hurt it. 

I'm very unfamiliar with Swift's music. I barely know ay of her songs. But in general, I'm a fan of the trend of having popular musicians write original musicals. I think that popular music styles are underrated as conduits for serious musical storytelling - when it's utilized right, it can be all the more potent for having a style that taps into the emotional zeitgeist of the audience. There's a sense of raw emotional expression that can sometimes get put on the backburner with your mor standard "contemporary musical theatre" style. Not saying we don't have some great musical theatre composers still working in the industry, I just think non-theatrical musicians have something of their own to bring to the table. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 1:09pm

Ew. Never. 

[fosterfan2]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 4:28pm

Waaayyyyy too soon. Most musicals of this type are done when the celeb is either dead or at least middle-aged. Not that I'm wishing her dead,of course.

Updated On: 11/13/21 at 04:28 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 5:01pm

It's too soon for a biographical musical about her, but not too soon for her to write a musical, or for someone to write a new story using her songs. 

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 5:32pm

I would love for her to write an original score, she’s a genius of a writer. She’ll probably get around to writing one someday. She’s not a great subject for a biographical musical (yet) and, personally, I am beyond over those. General audiences seem to be tiring of them, too. She’s got a large enough catalogue for a Mamma Mia style show setting her songs to a new book, but that would be a pass for me as well.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 7:35pm

I think an original musical written by the most critically acclaimed songwriter of our generation (you can dislike her, but this is fact) would be beyond exciting.

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 8:55pm

Sting’s reputation and public image post-Police is as a dry, joyless bore. He’s played into that image a bit and isn’t afraid to spoof it (see: Only Murders in the Building), but even ignoring the multiple generation gaps Taylor Swift radiates energy and intensity in a way the cerebral, dour Sting hasn’t in decades.

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 1:22pm

After seeing her “autobiographical” song on SNL last night — rambling, repetitive lyrics and droning, boring melody — I’d say no. I’ll never understand the appeal.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 1:36pm

TimesSquared said: "After seeing her “autobiographical” song on SNL last night — rambling, repetitive lyrics and droning, boring melody — I’d say no. I’ll never understand the appeal."

That was a pre-edited draft that sat on the shelf unedited for years which she released because fans had been begging her for years. You should listen to the actual song—it’s great storytelling.

 

I think a Taylor Swift musical is inevitable and some point and exactly what musical theater could use. She’s an incredibly masterful storyteller. Her indirect characterization and usage of everyday things to create poetry seems perfectly fit for theater. She’s brilliant and it’s hard to imagine that she’d create anything other than something very fresh and exciting while attracting new fans.

 

I definitely don’t think we ever need the Taylor Swift bio musical, however. Would very much like to see her collaborate with a strong book writer on something original. 

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 1:39pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I obviously now dislike Taylor Swift."

This made me cackle. I love Swift AND Jake, you can do it too, I believe it you! 

[Rainah]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 1:41pm

I don't like everything she's done (there's been some definite misfires) but I think she's overall a very talented songwriter. I'd love to see a mamma mia style jukebox musical or have her do something original. Regardless, I think she would have to be heavily involved, as she makes a point to have a lot of control over her work. There's no chance she just signs over rights and lets them work. 

Her real life story, unless there's a lot left out of the press, isn't interesting enough for a bio musical (and that's a good thing! Let's all hope we are uninteresting enough to make bad subjects for a bio musical!) and with her recent trend of putting out songs that aren't about her at all, I don't think she'd authorize a bio musical anyways.

But something along the lines of what she did in folklore would be cool.

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 2:03pm

Just my personal taste, but I listened to some of her hits after reading all the buzz about this new song (yeah, I’m part of a different generation) and I’ve yet to hear a melody I haven’t heard the likes of many times before. I get that fans are into her stories, and I love a good singer/storyteller in a concert setting, but Swift seems to write a lot of songs that hover around a single note over a very simple chord progression. To me, they drone, and lack the variety needed for a musical.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/14/21 at 2:50pm

JBroadway said: "Call_me_jorge said: "I wonder if her name being attached would be more of a burden, like Sting with The Last Ship"



At the risk of thread-jacking, just curious why you feel that Sting's name was a burden on The Last Ship? The score was widely regarded to be the best part of the show. And while his name might not have saved the show, I can't see how it could have hurt it.”

I’m understanding of what went down when the last ship closed, was because Sting couldn’t extend his run in the show any longer and unfortunately Jimmy Niall doesn’t sell tickets. The audience for sting and the audience for musical theatre doesn’t match up that much, so once he was in it, people going to see it for him, not the show. In comparison, I don’t feel like Waitress relied on Saras name as much. The audience for sara, for the most part, are already musical theatre fans. So, people seeing it were going for the show. Not specifically for Sara. Even though she was eventually in the show, they proved they could sell just as well without her being in it.