Monday, May 17, 2021

'Avatar: The Last Airbender' is Getting a Fan Made Musical

Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender shared their plans to make and perform an original musical based on the beloved animated series.


Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender will be receiving its first musical treatment.

TikTok creator Katherine Lynn-Rose introduced the project, Avatar: The Last Musical, on YouTube. "Back in June, the idea of an Avatar musical went viral on TikTok and a bunch of creators were writing their own original songs based off of the show," Lynn-Rose says. "A few of us TikTok creators teamed up in hopes of creating a full-length stage production."


This isn't the first time that TikTok creators created new media from beloved fandoms. In November of 2020, Emily Jacobsen shared a video of her performing an original song based on Pixar's Ratatouille, which led to the creation of a Ratatouille musical written by creators on TikTok. The musical incorporated Broadway stars like Tituss Burgess, Ashley Park and Andre De Shields in lead roles and raised over a million dollars for The Actor's Fund -- a national organization that offers emergency financial aid to individuals working in the performing arts.

Nickelodeon properties are no strangers to being adapted into musicals. Nickelodeon previously produced a Broadway musical based on another iconic hit, SpongeBob SquarePants.

Fans also gave Avatar musical makeovers last year during the pandemic.

Also, Lynn-Rose introduced the team behind Avatar: The Last Musical, including herself, Daniel Mertzlufft, who also worked on Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, Joshua Turchin, Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed, Lilianne Coeverden, Amari Anaya and Jon Maltz. The team members discussed their musical backgrounds and their shared love for Avatar's world.

Lynn-Rose continues, "There is such a lack of mainstream representation of Indigenous and Asian cultures on Broadway. And we really want to combat that and make sure that our voices are being heard. As for Asian representation in musical theater, I'm hoping that Avatar: The Last Musical can become one of the first mainstream musicals that features a largely Asian cast where the story being told isn't some white savior trope or another way to perpetuate racial stereotypes."

Goodspeed adds, "In terms of our casting and our music, we are going to be looking for Native people for the roles, Native actors and Native singers for ensemble, for lead parts, whoever we can find. And we are going to be using Native instruments throughout different pieces. You can hear them blending in with the other cultural music and giving you this gorgeous mix that ATLA itself tends to give throughout the show."

In terms of future plans for the musical, Lynn-Rose stated that her team is hoping to get a concept album out soon. Avatar fans can support the project by following @ATLMOfficial on social media and spreading the word about the upcoming TikTok musical.

Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra on Paramount+ and Netflix!

Subscribe to the NEW official Avatar: The Last Airbender YouTube channel!: https://at.nick.com/AvatarSubscribe

Find out more about Avatar: Braving the Elements, the brand new official Avatar podcast!: http://nickalive.blogspot.com/2021/05/nickelodeon-and-iheartradio-partner-on.html

More Nick: Nickelodeon Establishes Avatar Studios; Announces Animated 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Movie!

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Original source: CBR.

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