The Making of Jane Eyre the Tik Tok Musical

We Tried Making A TikTok Musical

CAST/CREW

Director/Executive Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Scherkenbach Head of Music and Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Peiris Male Principal Cast/Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Atticus Dickson Female Principal Cast/Music and Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Su Ertekin-Taner ACT I

Lights dimmed, cameras clicked off, and action ceased. The stages are quiet.

Theatre lovers everywhere were devastated when Broadway closed due to COVID-19, but their love for musicals merged with social media to create the trend of TikTok musicals, ranging in forms from Ratatouille to Bridgerton.

The virtual production of Ratatouille the TikTok Musical streamed for 72 hours starting January 1, 2021, and ultimately, raised over 2 million dollars for The Actors Fund, an organization that supports performers and other workers in the entertainment industry.

The newest TikTok musical to face the spotlight is based on the Netflix series Bridgerton, which was an adaption of Julia Quinn’s novels, and this musical collaboration formed from the collaborative efforts of artists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

Broadway has always been a symbol of resilience and expression. Through the emergence of TikTok musicals, the theater community has been able to stay together and continue creating in spite of all the challenges spanning the past year. ACT II

Chattering students gather in a board room off of the Bolles Hall courtyard.

Here at the San Jose Upper School campus, with an available cast of twenty-one people, the staff of The Bolles Bugle began producing a TikTok musical adaptation of the English II Honors classic, Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre the TikTok Musical is not our first iteration of a Jane Eyre musical adaptation. In November of 2019, Ian Peiris (‘22), Atticus Dickson (‘22), and I started playing around with the idea, introduced it to others, and collectively, with the help of the group, wrote two songs. The original idea died, though, due to an increase in apathy until its most recent resuscitation.

Currently, our experience of writing, producing, and staging a musical is much slower than other TikTok musicals because, regrettably, we are unable to dedicate full days worth of time to the project. However, we plan to continue with this endeavor over the next few months, and all progress will be posted on the official Bugle TikTok, @thebollesbugle. After all, the show must go on.

The Bolles Bugle TikTok Official Playbill design of Jane Eyre the TikTok Musical Sarah Scherkenbach Co-Editor-in-Chief

Ian Peiris Online Editor

DIVERSITY

“Let’s speak the truth: People are protesting because Black people have been treated as less than human in America. Because our country has never fully addressed the systemic racism that has plagued our country since its earliest days. It is the duty of every American to fix. No longer can some wait on the sidelines, hoping for incremental change. In times like this, silence is complicity.”

— Kamala Harris