As they say, the show must go on.
When the COVID-19 pandemic brought live shows to a halt, the cast and crew of “19: The Musical” (March 2024, Through the 4th Wall) found themselves with a choice: how they would proceed with their musical theater performance when such things couldn’t happen.
The answer? Make a musical audiobook. Here’s a look at the story:
Told through the eyes of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony and more, “19” captures the struggle, the injustice, and ultimately, the victory of the women's suffragist movement. The diverse cast explores racial tensions in the movement while simultaneously reflecting the diversity of modern America. Leading suffragettes give enthralling firsthand accounts of the movement’s greatest moments, interspersed with addictive songs include a mix of jazz, traditional musical standards, spoken word, hints of gospel, and dance.
In this interview, co-creator Jennifer Schwed talks about the show’s origin, how they moved from live musical to musical audiobook and lessons learned along the way.
How did this stage musical originally come to be?
Back in 2016, we had finished a large-scale immersive production about Edgar Allan Poe and we were thinking about what's next for us, what will we produce? The musical Hamilton was still very popular at that time and we were also heading into the possibly historic election of the first female president.
This combination of exciting new musical theater about the history of this country and honoring a historic moment for women became the inspiration for creating "19: The Musical," the story of women's fight for the right to vote, the 19th Amendment. Though we had absolutely no background in music, we were experienced writers and we knew that with the right music composer, we could craft lyrics to the story we wanted to tell. It was an enormous challenge and one that we both loved taking on and bringing the concept to the stage!
I read that you were set to open in March 2020 and then COVID closed such shows down. How did you pivot to a musical audiobook?
We spent a lot of time wondering what to do next! We are a two-person company and we had been creating shows based on the generosity of donors. There was no support net for us to try and restage a live show while dodging COVID — we could stand to lose everything. As avid readers, we started to think about the possibility of translating this story into a book, an audio book specifically, that could recreate the stage experience. We had listened to an audiobook production of "Angels in America" and we realized, yes, we can do this! Making "19: The Musical" into an audiobook also meant that we could reach an even wider audience, which was exciting given that the idea of going back to the stage was off the table for the time being.
Did the entire cast take part in this project?
One of the most wonderful aspects of recording the audiobook version of "19" is that the entire original cast came back to record it, minus one cast member who declined only because they are now a flight attendant! We did of course replace that cast member with another wonderful actor and we added a new voice to the chorus, as well.
Have you ever made an audiobook before? If not, what kind of lessons did you learn along the way?
We were new to this process and we learned a lot. Everything from the studio setup to rehearsing for audio vs a stage were lessons we will hold onto. Being on mic with headphones in a small room is a totally different experience than a stage with props and cues and dancers. Scaling down is important and we had to learn the process of inviting the listener into the show instead of having them watch a performance unfold.
Looking back on this, what’s your take on the final project? Do you think you’ll do more?
Overall, creating "19: The Musical" was both an honor and a wild ride! A global pandemic taking down your live production is just never, ever on anyone's bingo card, but here we are — all the wiser on how to pivot in challenging circumstances. We're pleased overall and having completed the audiobook, now we see what we would do differently. We're always working on new productions and I expect we will include audio productions somewhere down the line again.
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