Barlow & Bear

Did you see Barlow and Bear beat out musical theatre legends Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Schwartz, along with the cast recording of Girl from the North Country, to win the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album this month?

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear created the Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, a hit series of TikTok songs and videos based on the popular Netflix series “Bridgerton.” The clips garnered more than 200 million views on the app and created music history in a predominantly male industry.

They broke the glass ceiling on the standard way that a Broadway show is brought to life by involving the audience every step of the way throughout the creation of the musical via social media and TikTok live.

As shown in the viral success of their original songs for Bridgerton the Musical, they use their prolific gifts in multiple music styles to create ear-worm, contagious melodies with a broad appeal.

The music of Barlow and Bear is sing-able, hummable, trendy, and somehow familiar. They mix today’s sound with tributes to the great musicals, using elements from the pop, classical & jazz worlds that they came from.

Bear (20) and Barlow (23), are two young women who have independently carved out their own space in the musical theater world. Barlow was a founding creator on TikTok and has a flourishing singer-songwriter career with the chart success of her independently-released pop hit “Heartbreak Hotel.”

Meanwhile, Bear has had a rich career as an award winning composer and piano prodigy who first appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show at age six, and has performed around the world including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Accolades and support from Netflix, the cast of Bridgerton, and people from all across the world increased with the creation of each new song.

Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series said, “I know all about the musical and that is just blowing my mind,” she says. “I’ll be sort of humming in the shower and realise I’ve been humming one of the Bridgerton the Musical songs.” As if to prove it, she sings a bit of the Eloise song, “If I Were a Man.”

Composers Pasek and Paul (La La Land, Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen), self proclaimed “bearlow fans” wrote, “What is this musical style? Oh wait, it doesn’t exist, you’re inventing it”.

The power embracing play and creativity, the magic of Barlow and Bear have an incredible future.