THE SHOW MUST GO ON (and on)

Until now, you might have associated the words “drag marathon” with binging a season’s worth of Rupaul fabulousness. But performance artist Taylor Mac’s 24-hour show is about to bring new meaning to the phrase

In what’s set to be one of the most exciting events on Melbourne’s cultural calendar in recent times (not a minor triumph, as anyone who’s spent time in the lively city can attest), performance artist Taylor Mac will bring A 24-Decade History Of Popular

Music to Australia this month as part of the Melbourne Festival.

That we even have a chance to witness it is a coup (the show is a co-commission by Melbourne Festival organisers), as this will mark the only time the piece has been seen outside the US. The original show, performed in Mac’s home of New York, was the only one presented in its entirety over 24 hours straight – an incredible feat of stamina during which Mac only took short breaks to eat, drink and use the toilet, while the audience were offered sleeping bags. The piece has seen the artist earn huge critical acclaim, including a Guggenheim fellowship, Edward M Kennedy Prize and a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a title last year claimed by the phenomenon that is Hamilton.

When the show comes to our shores this month, it will be broken up into four six-hour blocks held over two weeks, but will be no less of a sight to behold. Mac (who uses “judy” in lieu of a traditional gender pronoun) and the cast will weave together song, dance, costume, acrobatics and burlesque, and enlist a good amount of audience participation, to illustrate the complete social history of the US and tell the oft-forgotten experiences of its persecuted minorities – whether that be people of colour, gays, women or religious groups – to show how, in Mac’s words, “communities are built through dire circumstances”. Even on paper, it’s a lot to take in, so we’ve crunched the production’s numbers to reveal its true amazingness...