An online campaign started by an Australian theatre company Belvoir Street Theatre petitioning for permission to use Taylor Swift’s hit anthem “Shake It Off” in their play has been a resounding success, with Tay taking to Twitter herself to give Belvoir the green light.
As first reported by Music Feeds, Belvoir ran into a last-minute hurdle with their production of Seventeen, due to opens tomorrow night, when they were refused permission to use “Shake It Off” in their final scene. The play itself follows the story of six of Australia’s theatre veterans who play the role of 17-year-olds on their last day of school.
A spokesperson for the company, Elly Michelle Clough told Music Feeds that “the cast have been rehearsing to Shake It Off for the past four weeks” and put in a lot of effort with intense choreography, especially for “a group of 70-year-olds with no dance training,” only to hear the news that permission had been denied at 5pm last Friday.
Belvoir’s Resident Director Anne-Louise Sarks began tweeting at anyone and everyone in a last-ditch attempt to appeal directly to Swift herself to reverse the decision and thanks to the power of these here internets, her strategy worked, with Tay announcing today: “Permission granted, @BelvoirSt. Good luck with your opening night :)”.
Permission granted, @BelvoirSt. Good luck with your opening night 🙂
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 4, 2015
Order restored.
Head to the Belvoir website for more information on Seventeen, and view a teaser clip of the show below.
