Bridgerton the Musical

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – even during this pandemic – you’ve assuredly heard about the Netflix drama Bridgerton, executive produced by ABC juggernaut Shonda Rhimes and overseen by Chris Van Dusen, who has worked alongside Shonda on Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal and serves as showrunner for the new Regency-based series which debuted on the streaming service on Christmas Day.

The Bridgertons

The series is based on the popular romance novels by best-selling author Julia Quinn; namely the book entitled “The Duke and I.” The story focuses on the Bridgerton family, a well-to-do family living in racially integrated Regency era London. The large family consists of four sons – Anthony, Benedict, Colin and Gregory and four daughters – Daphne, Eloise, Francesca and Hyacinth – as well as their widowed mother Violet, the Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton.

The main focus of the first season of the series – the show was given a second season order [much to the delight of its countless worldwide fans] – was on eldest daughter Daphne and her first season [mainly her introduction into society of the time whereupon she is expected to quickly win favor with the Queen and to find a husband].

The Queen

The Queen – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – is quite taken by Daphne’s introduction, making the young girl the belle of the ball and the talk of the ton [the members of high society] and thrust into the limelight. Whereupon she meets Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings; and quickly the two concoct a scheme to make all of the ton believe they are engaged – as the Duke has no intentions of marrying and Daphne does not want to be chosen by a less-than-desirable match by her eldest brother.

The Duke of Hastings

Bridgerton quickly became the talk of the streaming services and the world, quite frankly, being seen by 82 million viewers. Not too shabby, huh?

But, as I mentioned in one of my columns last month, two very talented TikTok regulars – Abigail Bristow (@abigailbarloww) [the girl with the magenta hair] and Emily Bear (@mlebear) [seated on the floor in the picture above]- poised the question: “What if Bridgerton were a musical?”

In just a few weeks these talented ladies have created 14 songs for the proposed Bridgerton the Musical that has taken the very inactive theatre world by storm, spurring choreographers to create dance numbers, talented performers to “audition” for various parts and for some well-placed people (including Van Dusen and some of the show’s cast) to reach out to Barlow and Bear.

Now, Bridgerton the Musical isn’t official as of yet, it certainly is getting a lot of attention and building traction for either a concept album – or even more. It’s just a matter of time before we see what happens next.

In the meantime, make sure to check out the 40 minute video interview that features Barlow and Bear performing snippets of a few of the songs they have created as well as talking about how all of this has come to pass with Maureen Lee Lenker over at Entertainment Weekly.

You just might be looking at the new way to workshop and present a Broadway show, and you just might be looking at the next Lin Manuel Miranda(s) in the guise of two very talented young ladies, who have captured the hearts of a lot of people all over the world.

You can also check out this article from the folks at People to learn more about Abigail and Emily!

Enjoy!