A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: The First Act
(USA)
Taylor Mac
Barbican Theatre
'ONE OF THE GREAT EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE.'
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The New York Times
'EXPLOSIVE, SPECTACULAR, HEARTBREAKING ... THIS SHOW IS EVERYTHING'
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Guardian
Fabulous and fearless, Taylor Mac reframes the social history of America through three decades of song in this no-holds-barred extravaganza of music, art, activism and hugely entertaining mass ritual.
Joined onstage by a 24-piece orchestra and a host of local special guests drawn from London’s own performance community, New York’s Taylor Mac has created a Pulitzer Prize-nominated, once-in-a-lifetime performance in a quest to chronicle how communities grow stronger as they are being torn apart.
Charting the years 1776–1806, Mac asks the audience to conspire together to reimagine rebellions, revolutions, triumphs and tragedies. Bawdy pub songs, sea shanties and subversive anthems are rearranged as musical mashups to take on a chapter of the defining early years of America’s history.
‘IT BORROWS WIDELY, YET THIS HISTORY LESSON CUM CABARET SHOW CUM THEATRICAL HAPPENING IS NOT QUITE LIKE ANYTHING ELSE.’
★ ★ ★ ★
The Times
‘MAC FOSTERS TOGETHERNESS LIKE NOTHING I'VE EVER KNOWN – AND, BOY, DOES THE WORLD NEED THAT RIGHT NOW.'
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Whats On Stage
‘IT’S AN EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE, AND AN INCREDIBLE ACT OF CREATING A COMMUNITY’
★ ★ ★ ★
The Stage
Presented by LIFT and the Barbican, produced by Pomegranate Arts and Nature’s Darlings with support from Sharon Karmazin.
This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Howard Gilman Foundation.
Part of the Barbican’s 2018 Season, The Art of Change, which explores how artists respond to,
reflect and can potentially effect change in the social and political landscape. Find out more here.
Creative Team:
Conceived and Co-Directed by Taylor Mac
Musical Direction by Matt Ray
Co-Direction by Niegel Smith
Costumes by Machine Dazzle
Lighting by John Torres
Dramaturgy by Jocelyn Clarke
Produced by Pomegranate Arts and Nature’s
Darlings: Linda Brumbach, Executive Producer and
Alisa Regas, Associate Producer
Photography by Little Fang and Sarah Walker
