Taylor Swift just granted a group of 70-year-olds the right to “Shake It Off”
I am a huge theatre fan. I think that a Broadway show is a great night out. I’m also, very recently, a huge Taylor Swift fan and listen to the song “Shake It Off” fairly regularly. Recently in Australia, these two things collided in a big way.
Down under in Sydney, Australia, a play was set to launch last week at the Belvoir Street Theatre when they ran into a little hiccup: they wanted to use the Swift, but hadn’t acquired the rights to the Swift.
Big problem.
The play, Seventeen, tells the story of a group of teenagers on their last day of high school. Only the cast is played by 70-year-old veteran actors rather than actual teenagers which I think is a fantastic shake up. At one point in the play, the cast does a synchronized dance to “Shake It Off.” But you can’t use a song if you don’t get the go-ahead from the artist. As of last Friday, that seemed to be the problem they faced.
Instead of panicking, the theatre’s director, Anne-Louise Sarks started a Twitter campaign #greygrey4taytay in the hopes of catching one Taylor Swift’s attention. Tweets have been sent out to her management, the Arts Minister of Australia and even, strangely, Russell Crowe!
Fan accounts have picked up the hashtag and have been tweeting up a storm to help the cast who have been rehearsing the dance to the song for four weeks. Talk about commitment from a group of amazing 70-year-olds!
“These actors weren’t, until these rehearsals, familiar with Taylor Swift –or much pop music- so we introduced them to this track, they learned all the words- it was kind of a big process.” Sarks told Australia’s ABC news site.
The hashtag soon became a trending topic in Australia and had tons of people tweeting for this precious little production to use the song. Thankfully, it got to Taylor and she very sweetly allowed them permission for the song!
Which is so like Taylor, using her social media prowess for good, am I right? “Permission granted, @BelvoirSt,” Swift tweeted in the nick of time. “Good luck with your opening night.”
Sarks responded to Swift on Twitter, “Your support for artists is a thing to behold.”
We’re so happy the play is moving forward and we’re thrilled that it’s happening with T-Swift’s blessing.
And if you want to know more about Seventeen, check out the video the cast made below.
(Image via Vevo)
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