Taylor Swift saves the show as a Sydney theater company reaches out for permission to use the pop star's hit song.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com
The Belvoir Street Theater play Seventeen, a show made up of a cast full of actors in the 70's playing teenagers on their last day of school. The director of the show, Anne-Louise Sarks, wanted the actors to have a big finale by singing Swift's "Shake It Off."
However, as last-minute theater dilemmas occur, the cast was refused permission to use Swift's song. Sarks decided it's a call for action and reach out to Swift via Twitter.
"There's this great moment where they Shake It Off, and they know all the words and have amazing moves," Sarks tweeted at Swift. "But we've just at the last minute been told we can't have the rights to the song."
As the campaign spread on Twitter, other Australian stars asked Swift for her help.
"Dear @edsheeran. Cd you please ask Taylor & to ask her manager to ask her publisher to sort this? (I said I'd try)," comedian Tim Minchin ask one of Swift's best friends, Ed Sheeran.
Yael Stone, known for her role in Orange Is The New Black, also tweeted, "Hey @taylorswift13 This wonderful Australian theater company is desperate to #shakeitoff It'll be magic! Can they?"
Sure enough, Swift came to the rescue just seven hours later. "Permission granted, @BelvoirSt. Good luck with your opening night :)."
Sarks explained to ABC that the actors didn't even know who Swift was. "These actors weren't, until these rehearsals, familiar with Taylor Swift — or much pop music — so we introduced them to this track, they learned all the words — it was kind of a big process," she said. "So it was quite a big deal to get denied those rights at the last minute."
When Sarks found out the show can go on, she was overwhelmed. "It's thrilling, it's so exciting, and most of all it's a huge relief for the show," she said.
"Your support for artists is a thing to behold," Sarks thanked Swift on Twitter.
image via Twitter from Buzz Feed Australia