Consider This from NPR - 'The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' Creators Nominated For Their First Ever Grammy

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

Binge watching a show you love is enjoyable, but not always productive. But artists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear turned their binge into a Grammy nomination.They were inspired by Season 1 of Netflix's series Bridgerton, and used that inspiration to write a full musical theater album. They didn't intend to write a full album, but as they workshopped the songs on social media, fans everywhere watched as Barlow & Bear wrote the songs live — offering followers a front row seat to the music making process. This weekend at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow will be in the audience waiting to hear if their album, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, wins in the category of Best Musical Theater Album.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all on the web at theschmidt.org. You know when a new show comes out and you watch an episode just to see if you like it, and the next thing you know, you haven't moved for four hours because you can't stop watching it. Well, that was pretty much the binge-watching experience for Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear when they saw the Netflix series Bridgerton. But their obsession with this show did not end when the first season did. I re-watched the opening sequence where you're being introduced to all the characters,

and I was like, I can see this opening number on stage. It's so musical theater. Yeah. Like when we were writing the opening number, we watched that opening scene so many times because it's theatrical. It's so theatrical. They go by Barlow and Bear as a musical duo. And when they watched Bridgerton, they just started playing around with that idea. What if this was a musical? Okay, but what if Bridgerton was a musical? What a beautiful beauty. So we had like a moment we wanted to write about in the show. So we kind of watched that moment and then we were sort of playing around with different ideas.

And I think you came up with the chord progression. They workshopped ideas for songs and lyrics and melody all along while posting about it on social media. I guess I have to be a lady Smiling and waving Constantly obeying I guess I need a prince I mean, when we were writing this, we were going live every day on TikTok and Instagram

where they could literally just see everything that we're doing in real time. And I think the coolest part about that is that you can go back and rewatch all of them and can see the birth of each song as they happened. And fans loved it. So I feel like something like this, where it had like a cultural phenomenon lightning in a bottle situation where everyone in the world was talking about this one thing they felt like they could give their two cents while we were writing they were a part of the process and it was something that they like felt comfortable sharing versus like an unknown storyline that it's just so much harder to rally a big group of people like that fans loved it so so much, in fact, that Barlow and Bear are about to have one of the biggest nights of their lives.

Consider this. For most of us, binge-watching a show means endless, unproductive, though quite enjoyable, hours on a couch. But two artists turned their binge into their first Grammy nomination ever and managed to break down barriers to musical theater in the process. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Friday, April 1st. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.

Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org. Consider this from NPR. This weekend at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, carnegie.org. Consider this from NPR.

This weekend at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, Emily Baer and Abigail Barlow will be in the audience waiting to hear if their album, the unofficial Bridgerton Musical, wins for Best Musical Theater Album. Now, the show, Bridgerton the Musical, it doesn't actually exist as a stage production. But even just with music and melody and lyrics, like they all contribute and play a little part. And when they come together, that's what musical theater is. And there's no rule book for writing musical theater.

You know, there's no rule book for putting together a musical. So it's like we were just doing it, you know, like we just found a way to make it work. This is the story of Barlow and Bear as first-time Grammy nominees. It involves a TikTok fairy tale of sorts, which begins with a posh afternoon in London's West End last November. We literally had just got finished making TikToks with Andrew Lloyd Webber. And I was like, that was surreal in its own right, of course. Again, that is Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow. These 20-somethings had grabbed the attention of Weber and the whole musical theater world with their album, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. On a lark, they had submitted the album for Grammy consideration. And the evening when nominations were coming out, they stuck around at Weber's Theater for high tea.

And like all the biscuits and little cakes and stuff around. I was so nervous I could not eat. Yeah, she was so nervous she couldn't eat and I was stress eating. As the musical theater category was announced, Barlow and Bear went live on TikTok. Stephen Schwartz snapshots, and finally the unofficial. And then we started bawling. Why was it the last one? Barlow and Bear are the only women nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album category this year,

and they're facing some Broadway greats like Stephen Schwartz and, yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Their album, it's also unique because they composed many of the songs live on social media, with fans offering a running commentary during the hours-long live sessions. Nothing but a whisper, it's a shout, it's a buzz about the time, nothing like a scandal. We wanted to see how the magic happens, IRL. So, we met Abigail Barlow and Emily Baer at their shared studio in Baer's apartment in central Los Angeles.

What key's it in? Colored and green, gilded and gold. I feel like I'm living in a musical right now. My life is a musical these days. I guess I have to be a lady Smiling and waving, constantly obeying Okay. So Bridgerton, this Netflix show, it comes out around Christmas of 2020.

People, they just like get addicted to this show. I got addicted to this show. Immediately. I was going to ask, did you guys get drawn in immediately? Yes. I mean, we are quite literally the target audience. Yeah. I think everybody just got so into it because it was a departure from the world we were living in at the moment,

which was really not about getting together. It was very lonely. Also, the previous year and a half for Abby and I, just career speaking, was rough. What do you mean? I got ghosted by every single major record label that was interested in me, and it was just no after no. I think we were just barely getting by before we had this idea for Bridgerton. I didn't know any of your maids were married. She's not married.

She's not married? So then at one point, Abigail, I'm going to fast forward to January of last year, right? Just a few weeks after the show comes out, you post this video on TikTok asking the question. Okay, but what if Bridgerton was a musical? What a beautiful party. Were you actually serious at that point?

I really just wanted to write a song. I was actually experiencing writer's block for like three or four months before I wrote that song. And when I watched Bridgerton, there was an overwhelming feeling. It was perfect for stage. A lot of drama, escapism, a character for everyone to relate to. And so I sort of, I was half serious. I was like, if people like this idea, maybe it'll be a TikTok series. Maybe I'll do it for more than one character.

But honestly, it was just a songwriting challenge to put myself in someone else's shoes even if that wasn't a make-believe character when we were writing the opening number we watched that opening scene so many times because it's theatrical it's so theatrical we had like a moment we wanted to write about in the show so we kind of watched that moment and then we were sort of playing around with different ideas. I mean, when we were writing this, we were going live every day on TikTok and Instagram and where they could literally just see everything that we're doing in real time. So like, are you literally watching the live video feed and the comments coming through?

It was like almost like we were workshopping instantly. With a sea of strangers. Yes, exactly. They did not hold back when they didn't like something either. Yeah, and I mean, I think a lot of the times we have sort of a melody that we like and we're kind of going back and forth on the lyrics to just make something that sounds right,

that feels good to sing. So I knew we had the and then we sort of started working on the lyrics with the audience and kind of workshopped a bunch of them. Colored and still. I'm going to do the green and the gold. Colored and green and... Because I knew I had to be He'd be the artist and I'd be the brush. And then we were like, when someone said gilded and gold,

or something gilded... I don't remember exactly what they said, but something along the lines of that. Colored and green and gilded and gold. Ooh. Covered in green and gilded in gold. Colored in green and gilded in gold. Ooh. Covered in green and gilded in gold. Colored in green and gilded in gold. That's cool.

Yeah, that is cool. Because we were thinking, wow, these two people obviously have such tension right now and they want to be with each other, but they can't. And so they could if they escaped into one of these beautiful paintings and lived in this dream world that doesn't exist. Yeah. I'm dancing, colored in green, gilded in gold When we're alone together You see all this art in the world, but no one really kind of pulls that curtain back

and a lot of people don't know what it means to write a song and what it means to develop a project or you know all the above and so I feel like just showing every bit of the process including the ugly bits was interesting to people. I mean I'm thinking maybe there are some musical theater fans of a certain generation that would turn their noses up at some musical on TikTok. Sure. And, you know, they would say that a lot is actually lost because it's not on a real stage in a theater

with actual human audience members watching you. What would you say to those critics? I'd say that musical theater is a very classically gatekept art form. You know, it's very expensive to go to a Broadway show. It's like 200 bucks a ticket. And so it might not be the same as being on a stage for sure, but it is definitely exposing a younger audience to a different kind of music and a different kind of storytelling. And I think that's important. Well, do you hope to see the unofficial Bridgerton musical on an actual stage one day?

Duh. That's the dream. We've got so many stories to tell together, so, you know, this is not the last you'll see of Barlow and Bear, and it won't be the only thing, if it is on a stage, that we'll have on stage. That was Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. Their album, Bridgerton the Musical, is nominated for the Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammys this weekend. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kauffman Foundation, providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity, regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kauffman.org.