AD-Gifted
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World is, well, fantastic.
You may be familiar with the books? And if you’re not then I implore you to give them a read and buy them for all the children (and grownups) in your life.
Author, and descendent of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, Kate Pankhurst, has created a book series that highlights women from history who have changed the world.
And this all female led production brings those bad-ass stories to life in musical form!
Read my reviews of Six the Musical and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and don’t forget to get your Lion King musical tickets!
Wonderful women
Jade is an overtly excitable schoolgirl who thinks she has been forgotten on a school trip. Feeling lost, in more ways than one, she enters a closed off exhibit displaying a gallery of greatness. Here she meets a mix of female inventors, adventurers and artists who help her find her way.
- Aviator Amelia Earhart, navigator Sacagawea and Olympian Gertrude Ederle bring together land, air and sea. Novelist Jane Austen and painter Frida Kahlo celebrate creativity.
- All the Mary’s assemble; secret agent Marie Christine Chilver, Nurse Mary Seacole, palaeontologist Mary Anning and scientist Marie Curie, in a superhero like fashion.
- And activist’s Rosa Parks and Emmeline Pankhurst and diarist Anne Frank show more everyday change makers.
All prove that no woman is ordinary and every woman is capable of greatness. They are all so very different, originating from different parts of the world, but the two things they have in common? They are all women who change the world for the better.
The mix of arrows that fill the stage emphasize how Jade is looking for direction. And the giant colourful boxes that transform from a closed museum to housing a bad-ass band add such playfulness to the production. It’s a marvel.
Positively pop-tastic
The show has been produced by the creator of Six and it shows. But not only because this musical celebrates women. More similarities come with a 70-minute run time, live girl band on stage and pop-tastic soundtrack.
And the tunes are catchy! They have a bright and hopeful feel where I found myself repeating the chorus and bopping along. I ‘m not so patiently waiting for the cast album to be released on Spotify. Or at least can you share the mixtape being played on the entrance/exit? It was a powerful female playlist that I need to sing along to during my showers.
The street dance inspired choreography to compliment was totally my vibe. The cast absolutely smashed the vocals and moves like Little Mix performing at Wembley Stadium. Please can I ask for a cast dance lesson? I’d love to learn the moves.
Incredibly inspiring
There are so many inspiring messages to take home from believing in yourself to following your passion and your voice matters to learning you are enough. I’m a 31-year-old women and felt all the feels. I can only imagine the positive impact it would have on a child.
To add to this, the show programme has a page on great women who are STILL changing the world, which showcases living, relatable females that you can and should admire. It reinforces that anyone can change the world in their own unique way.
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World will leave you feeling empowered and proud to be a woman. I honestly think everyone needs to experience this joyful musical.
Learn more about musical tour here
I will forever cherish the pin badge I bought from the merchandise stall saying, ‘well behaved women rarely make history’.
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World is playing at The Lowry until Saturday 9 April 2022.
On tour in Kingston, Edinburgh, Truro, Exeter, Cheltenham, Oxford, Sheffield, Poole, and London.