#julie the musical

[miashyperfixations]

JULIE THE MUSICAL

28.07.2023 @ The Other Palace (studio), London (120 Capacity)

Written August 2023

Julie The Musical was amazing, especially as we bought the tickets only a few days before as a fun experience to end a week in London. We had no expectations whatsoever, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed the show.

The brand new original musical written by Abey Bradbury focuses on the life of historical LGBTQ+ icon Julie D'Aubigny, whose extraordinary life adventures come alive via live music, comedy & even a sword-fighting tap number. Julie is a musical celebrating her chaotic & crazy life, unapologetic queerness & shows that you can carve a place for yourself in a world not built for you. You never have to give up. 

The oddly comforting musical concentrates on Julie’s found family (a personal favourite trope of mine) that she gains along her journey to become the most famed opera singer in the world at Paris Opera House and her romantic escapades as she does so. Similarly to SIX: The Musical, it was a small production with just the 5 actors on stage. The 5-piece was made up of super talented multi-instrumentalists, rotating between singing, playing, or both, depending on the number. Sam Kearney (they/them) did such a phenomenal job portraying the titular character with perfect comedic timing, superb chemistry with every other actor & a showstopping voice I couldn't get over. The way each actor (other than Sam) takes on multiple roles without it becoming too confusing is truly amazing and really shows how versatile & modern this whole play is, everyone involved is amazingly talented and promises great things for the future of theatre. Something I didn’t realise till after the show was that one of the actor’s was not there and instead, Abey Bradbury (the show’s creator/writer) had stepped up to cover the role of ‘Thevenard & others’ (I think…). 

After the show we managed to talk to one of the actors, Sophie, as she packed up. She was just as enthusiastic as we were about the show & was surprised at the fact we wanted to know even more about it and what goes on behind the scenes. She then pointed us in the direction of the show’s producer, Conor who was able to talk to me in even more depth about the live setup of the show and The Other Palace in general.

This new & flamboyant musical truly deserves all the awards and traction it gains - it's so phenomenal. It really shone a light onto queerness in the 1700s, and fuelled the fire against reducing LGBTQ+ history in society, especially as sapphic representation is at a significantly lower level in mainstream media. The actors, crew & creator did such a good job putting on a great show & creating such a good, fun, safe & inclusive show. I can't recommend it enough and will definitely be seeing it again.

[nick-nellson]

The Sound of Music (1965) dir. Robert Wise

[underground-secret]

Chappell Roan at the VMAs was everything. People keep confusing her outfit with Joan of Arc but she was actually Julie D’aubigny, which is so much more impactful. Let me explain.

In simple terms she was very good at fencing and she even did opera singing. But what really connects her to what Chappell did is her love story. Julie was a queer woman, she often dressed in men’s clothing but did not attempt to come off as a man.

At some point she had a relationship with a woman, yes a romantic one. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the girl was shipped off to a convent to prevent the two from being in contact. And to frame it simply Julie followed after her, snuck in pretending to be apart of the whole thing, created this whole elaborate plan to sneak her lover out which included getting a dead nuns body and placing it in the girls bed followed by burning the building down, therefore faking the girls death.

They ran away together. But, a couple months later the girl went back to her family. Julie’s plan was found out and she was charged as a man on a variety of crimes, she was sentenced to death by burning.

Now let’s put this all together.

1. Chappell was consistently using swords

2. In the performance she looked back and shot a flaming arrow at a building burning it down which goes back to the burning of the convent.

3. The song performed was Good Luck, Babe! And Julie’s lover going back to her family is so Good Luck, Babe! coded. Like literally ur lover followed you to a conversion thing, setting up this whole thing so that you can run away together and love freely and then you go back home to ur family and she dies at the stake. Although not surprising for the time period it’s still so crazy and soooo poetic.

4. Julie d'Aubigny has this whole tragic queer story and Chappells music centers around that sort of thing, and what’s more impactful than a literal gay performer dressing as a gay performer who was killed for being gay?

Do you guys see what I mean??? So, while I love the edits I’m seeing please keep in mind that it is not Joan of Arc. In fact, I think it’s super important that this is corrected considering how real and tragic Julie’s story was.

[frenchublog]

[beepmeepmeepbeep]

theyre making a musical about julie d'aubigny that just looks crazy historically inaccurate...

[loveable-sea-lemon]

anyways

[adh-james-version]

EVERYONE ON TUMBLR NEEDS TO DO THIS

[florida3exclamationpoints]

The Sound of Music + textposts pt. 6/?

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[caluanthes]

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), dir Robert Wise

[nick-nellson]

The Sound of Music (1965) dir. Robert Wise

[toyastales]

Let's spin a few records

[cat-cosplay]

"Alexander Cat-milton, My name is Alexander Cat-milton."

Happy Fourth of July

[frenchublog]

[boltlightning]

do allow me, will you? ➢ THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)