BWW Blog: How TikTok Has Helped Musical Theatre

Sure, the viral video-sharing social networking service, TikTok, seems childish at first glance. A majority of its posts consist of people participating in trends, where they plainly lip-synch and/or dance. But the platform has proven to be very useful for theatre artists, especially amidst a global pandemic.

TikTok users create short videos and "like" others'. "Creators," or TikTok makers, create audio segments that other creators use in their own videos. This feature led to the development of the lip-sync/dance trends. They seem insignificant, but when one of the trends is lip-syncing the first few seconds of "All You Wanna Do" from Six, the song is introduced to almost every account on the platform. Of course, theatre kids love this song. But if you start singing it in the presence of non-theatre kids, they'll know exactly what they're hearing. Maybe TikTok will help us return to the Golden Age of theatre, where showtunes were household gems, enjoyed by everyone.

The marketing aspect of TikTok isn't the only one that serves useful purposes. There's a convenient organizational aspect, allowing theatre enthusiasts to use the app to plan performances. Professional Music Director, Tyler Capa, (who now has over 24,000 followers) planned a 54 Below cabaret for theatre kids through TikTok. People auditioned by hashtagging #capacasting on posts where they slated and sang. After receiving more than 1,600 auditions, Capa sent 67 of them to the next round. They used the hashtag #capacallback, and Capa chose the final 17 to accompany him in New York City. Because of the coronavirus, there's no set date for the cabaret. But when it does happen, I'll be the first person to buy a ticket! You can check out the wonderful talent by searching either hashtag.

Activism soars on TikTok, too. An account with the handle @broadway4biden has accumulated over 1,000,000 views. On this page, theatre stars encourage fans to become politically active by registering and voting in the upcoming election. Check out Laura Benanti's political parody of "Vanilla Ice Cream" from She Loves Me. You can already guess whom she refers to when singing "a man that I despise."

Theatre educators are all over my "For You Page," or a calculated collection of posts that will interest the user. There's a myriad of Broadway voice teachers. My favorites are @yourvoiceteacher and @singwithchelsea. As far as audition prep advice goes, information from @juliegalorenzocoaching and @maggiebera is unmatched. There are even accounts that teach viewers about the business of Broadway. @jennaonstage's "Marketing for Broadway" page is one that I check every day. But my favorite TikTok account is definitely @broadwaybob. Bob is a Broadway diva aficionado and I could listen to him talk about Patti LuPone all day.

If you've yet to download the app, do it soon! Don't miss out on all of the wonderful theatre-themed resources at our disposal.

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