I just got home from seeing American Girl Live in Concert! Here's my recap, photos I took, and my review!
The show starts with Madison, the original character from 2023, who just passed an audition to sing in a girl group. However, she does have one fear - singing a solo in front of a crowd, which she is expected to do at her concert tonight. With her Nicki doll, she writes in her Dream Diary and wishes that the American Girls would help her with being able to sing in front of a crowd. Madison wishes hard, and her wish comes true - Nicki, Courtney, Julie, Melody and Claudie come to life to help her! As they introduce themselves, they sing the song BFF from American Girl’s YouTube channel (most of the soundtrack is from American Girl’s YouTube) enthusiastically, while Madison struggles to join in with them.
To give Madison confidence to face her fear and perform, each American Girl doll tells her story of how she overcame a fear and did something she loved along the way. First, Julie talks about how had to fight for her place on the boy’s basketball team, and then performs Julie Can Change The World. Then, Claudie talks about not being sure of what her talent was, until she discovered storytelling, then she performs DREAM with Claudie. Then, Nicki talks about how she was scared to do skateboarding tricks in front of a crowd until she found friends who believed in her, then performs Dear Future Me (Isabel’s song, but with rewritten lyrics for Nicki). Then, Courtney talks about the lack of female representation in 80’s video games and her own female character - Crystal Starshooter, before performing Hey, Courtney. Lastly, after asking the audience what they love to do for fun, Melody talks about her love of singing - like Madison’s - before singing Lift Your Voice With Melody.
After the song, Courtney encourages the audience to get up out of their seats and do the robot dance from the 80s, which leads into a “Decades Dance-Off”, where each American Girl doll leads the audience in two different dance moves from their era. As a result of seeing how friendly the audience is - especially when they talk about their different time periods and the crowd reaction when Madison mentions not being able to get Taylor Swift tickets - and the encouragement from the American Girl dolls, Madison’s fears go away and she is ready to perform in front of the crowd. To celebrate, the dolls and Madison perform Go Team USA (but rewritten to Go Madison) However, Madison still doesn’t know what song she’s going to sing, and decides to give the audience a break so she can decide, ending Act 1.
Act 2 begins with Madison summoning the dolls back to the stage, who then sing a cover of Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun as a suggestion for a song Madison can sing. She still isn't sure, but the dolls do know that she needs to look her best for her performance. They get out a hair salon, sing the Dolled Up song, and get Madison in a new jacket and hair clips for her performance. Madison talks about how much she wants to be a singer, and be on tour - like it would be a huge road trip - which cues Nicki to say that she knows a song about a road trip. With their own microphones and a dance taught to the audience, they sing the Glam Fam Jam. Madison then takes a selfie with the audience, and a selfie with the dolls, and they sing Making Memories Together.
Despite all the fun, Madison still doesn't know what song she's going to sing for her performance, so the American Girl dolls help her out with singing their favorite songs from the decades. However, this doesn't help, and Madison doubts if she's even good enough to perform a solo. After encouraging Madison, the dolls sing U R Your Own Star (from the Isabelle movie), which gives Madison the idea to sing a song she wrote herself, Lion Heart. After Madison's solo, Nicki tells her that she and the other dolls need to go home now that Madison can perform by herself, but Madison asks for one more song with the American Girl dolls - Girl Power.
My dad took some photos during the show, and I got a group photo and photos with every cast member! (Note: Kyra Longenecker, who usually plays Nicki, didn't perform in Charlotte, so Holly Hincliff performed in her place.)
Now, here's my review!
The show itself was really fun and good! At first, when American Girl first announced that they were doing another tour, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it as much as I loved the American Girl Live musical from 2018-19. At first, I thought that was lightning in a bottle, but I'm happy to report that American Girl did it again. I would have to say that this show worked the most because of its' format and American Girl trying something new instead of the same thing they did in 2018-19. Doing a concert full of American Girl songs from YouTube and past American Girl franchise media, as well as some popular historical songs and dances, worked really well, and it did enough to set itself apart from the other American Girl Live tour in a really fun and engaging way. I knew every American Girl song, and they were performed so amazingly here. We all like to make jokes about the uncanny animation styles used in the majority of the American Girl music videos, but the songs performed with a live band and such talented singers made them sound one thousand times better than they would ever on YouTube. (And I have to admit - it was a full circle moment hearing U R Your Own Star in an American Girl production in the year of 2023! I almost cried...) The actresses did such an amazing job portraying their characters. They embodied them so well, and it actually felt like I was watching the dolls come to life, which was exactly what the show was going for! I also liked the parts where the different American Girl dolls were interacting with each other and learning about each other's time periods. This is the first American Girl media in history where the different dolls got to interact with each other, and this show took that premise and ran with it in a very rewarding way for both longtime AG fans/collectors and girls who like to play with their dolls. The audience interactivity was fun as well, and the crowd (filled with girls around the ages of five through ten - me and my dad were the only one there without a kid!) loved singing, dancing and cheering along with their favorite dolls. It was absolutely perfect for the target age range, as well as longtime American Girl fans like me! Overall, I really enjoyed the show and would recommend you all checking it out if you haven't already! There's eight cities left on the tour, so make sure you see it before it ends in Arkansas on February 3!