Over the past few months, the Netflix original show, “Bridgerton,” has taken the internet by storm. The show follows young English men and women from 1800s England, in their attempt to find love. The characters, soundtrack and intriguing plotline were a recipe for success among the multiples generations, specifically the ones most present on TikTok.
Once the creative users of TikTok got ahold of “Bridgerton,” the app was immediately flooded with thousands of videos centered around the show. Some of the videos received more attention than others, including those from Abigail Barlow.
Barlow’s videos stood out among the others because she reinterpreted the show as a musical; creating songs that perfectly told the story of the characters with breathtaking melodies and beautiful lyrics. In collaboration with long time musician, Emily Bear, Barlow released her first video envisioning “Bridgerton” as a musical on Jan. 10.
As the videos gained popularity, Barlow and Bear kept up with the demand and released more songs for each character from the show. Each one just as good as the last. Thousands of TikTok users were singing along with the pair and promoting the hashtag #bridgertonmusical. The hashtag now has over 88 million views in total.
After Barlow’s videos exploded, it wasn’t long before the songs escaped the realm of TikTok and reached vaster audiences. Broadway stars started sharing #bridgertonmusical on their social medias and voicing their hopes for the songs to be moved to the stage. Even the cast of “Bridgerton” commented on Barlow and Bear’s creations in interviews.
This is not the first time we have seen a musical arise from TikTok like this. “Ratatouille,” the TikTok Musical, became a sensation on the app when thousands of creators were lending their talents to write songs that transformed the Disney movie into a musical masterpiece. Actors and actresses from Broadway collaborated to virtually perform the songs from TikTok to raise money for The Actors Fund, raising over $2 million.
Barlow and Bear have high hopes that “Bridgerton,” the Musical will find similar success, and one day land itself on a Broadway stage. The songwriting duo created a website where they have shared some “rough demos” of their original songs. (Visit www.barlowandbear.com to check them out.)
As the pair continues the songwriting for the project, the possibilities for the musical only grow. Whether “Bridgerton,” the Musical reaches Broadway or not, Barlow and Bear can genuinely say that they inspired millions to share their creativity and talent with the world.
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