Course Description

Calling all Swifties, and those new to Taylor Swift, as well!  This class is a deep-dive into Taylor Swift’s life and career as one of the most successful and influential singer-songwriters in history.  The goal of the class is to design a “Jukebox”-style Taylor Swift Broadway musical, using Swift’s music and lyrics. (A Jukebox Musical is a stage or film musical built around songs that are well-known popular songs, rather than original music and lyrics; for example, Mamma Mia! (1999), with music and lyrics by Swedish pop group ABBA.)  We will spend the first four weeks of the semester watching, discussing and comparing four Jukebox Musicals: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978), featuring music by Jazz musician Thomas “Fats” Waller; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (2018); MJ: The Musical (2020), based on the life of Michael Jackson; and Holidays: Le Musical (2023), featuring songs by Madonna.  The class will then spend six weeks concentrating on Swift’s songs, from her thirteen Grammy Award winning albums: Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore and Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022), and The Tortured Poets Department (2024).  We will also consider Taylor’s Versions of Fearless (2021), Red (2021), Speak Now (2023), and 1989 (2023); the documentary film Miss Americana (2920), her Renaissance and Eras Tour, and The Eras Tour film (2023).  Our class will ponder Swift’s extensive economic impact; her role as a global celebrity icon (Time’s 2023 Person of the Year, who “demonstrates significant soft power”); her advocacy for artists, the LGBTQ+ community, and women’s empowerment, as well the impact of her fans (Swifties).  During the last six weeks of the semester, our class will create their own versions of a Jukebox Musical, based on the life, philanthropy, vision and music of Taylor Swift.  During the last week of the semester, each group will present their ideas for their Taylor Swift Musical to the class.

Texts

New York Times, Forbes and Time articles;

Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978);

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (2018);

MJ: The Musical (2020);

Holidays: Le Musical (2023);

Fearless (2008);

Speak Now (2010);

Red (2012);

1989 (2014);

Reputation (2017);

Lover (2019);

Folklore and Evermore (2020);

Midnights (2022);

Miss Americana (2020);

Eras Tour film (2023);

The Tortured Poets Department (2024);

Taylor’s Versions of Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989;

The Taylor Swift Journal Challenge: 31 Writing Prompts For a Month of Self-Discovery Using Taylor Swift Song Lyrics (2023);

Taylor Swift: The Biography of the New Queen of Pop--From Country Roots to Pop Sensation (2023).

Requirements

Reliable attendance (5%);

active participation in all activities and discussions (15%);

Two short Response Papers (two to three pages) about a Jukebox Musical, and a Taylor Swift album (30%);

a four to six page Group Project Proposal for your Taylor Swift Jukebox Musical (10%); and

a Group Project (40%): creating an outline, writing several scenes, and choosing songs for a Taylor Swift Jukebox Musical, and presenting your ideas about your Musical to the class.

About the Instructor(s): Maria Szasz

Maria Szasz is an unabashed Swiftie, who also teaches Theatre History in the UNM Honors College.  Her favorite sub-genres of the Performing Arts include Musical Theatre, Irish and American Drama, Theatre and Human Rights, Comedy, Stand-Up Comedy and dance.  Her latest book is The Irish Repertory Theatre: Celebrating Thirty-Five Years Off-Broadway (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).