This book was good about including Black women purposefully left behind in the quest to gain the right to vote for women except at the end. It ended saying women have the right to vote but completely left out Black women didn’t get the right to vote until decades later.

Songs were alright, could have been better

Fun audiobook. I really liked the way it brought history alive. It was a little weird when I used my normal speed, but hearing the music really made the story pop. I am excited to try more audiobooks in this style.

4 stars

I was excited to listen to this, but I was puzzled about how it would work. The key was not to expect a typical audiobook. You are listening to a musical with the help of stage directions and a narrator. It worked well. I found it very entertaining and educational, which is exactly what I look for in historical fiction. ****Full review on www.novelpastimes.com

Author: Jennifer Schwed and Doug Bradshae
Format: 🎧
Narrated by Katie Ganem, Millicent, Matia Ciarrocchi, Brenda Parker, Meredith Elg, Brian Lyon-Burk, Elizabeth Keith, Sidney Davis, Karen Spigel and Odette Guiterrez del Arroyo
Publisher: Through the 4th Wall
Genre: Historical- Musical
Audiobook Pub Date was: April 2, 2024
My Rating: 3 Stars

This is an actual musical!
The story is told in Two Acts
Act 1 has 19 Scenes and
Act 2 has 14 Scenes
It is the story of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland and the other suffragists who fought to get women the right to vote — the 19th Amendment.

As a high school guidance counselor I attended many high school productions- plays, as well as vocal and music performances. This did remind me of our annual Veterans Day program which included narration as well the orchestra playing music appropriate for the scene.

This Historical Musical Theatre production was interesting and I learn more about the suffragette movement.

Thank you NetGalley and Through the 4th Wall for this interesting audiobook.
Audio Pub Date was April 2, 2024.

Released April 2, 2024, 19: The Musical, a new full-cast audiobook, is an adaptation of the 2019 stage production of the same name, with book and lyrics by Jennifer Schwed and Doug Bradshaw, and music composed and arranged by Charlie Barnett. The show provides a detailed backstory of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.

The women's suffrage movement in the United States of America is one of those historical events that's been flattened into a handful of names and locations and dates. We know there was a parade, some picketing - wasn't somebody beat up or something? - and marching, and then we look up the date that the 19th Amendment passed and was ratified, and that's it. 19: The Musical gives life to this history, fleshing out the names, being very descriptive of the locations, and being quite specific about the dates. This approach best reveals the sheer longevity and sometimes fierce and violent battles that made up the movement.

Those more familiar with the history will be assured to know that in the two-and-a-half-hour production, the "silent sentinels" and the "night of terror" are covered, along with the forced feeding of the women protestors, while they were on hunger strikes in prison, in both the UK and the USA.

If this musical does anything -- within its obviously Hamilton-inspired flourishes of using some present-day slang and phrases, some race-bending, a variety of song styles, some near-rap battles between characters (and an overlong Act I) -- it shows the days, the weeks, the months, the years, the decades that it took for women to get the vote. It did not happen overnight, and at several points along the way, it looked like it might not happen at all, especially in the later years of the movement while World War I raged in the late 1910s. One song in the show has the refrain, "Protest, arrest, release, repeat."

There were two schools of thought; get a federal amendment added to the Constitution, or fight for women's right to vote state-by-state, with both sustaining successes and failures along the way. Fundraising was always front-of-mind, which took its own toll. Race was an issue in these relatively early post-slavery times, and the production doesn't shy away from showing there was racism in the ranks (and it is hardly a secret that this right to vote wasn't actually extended to Black women until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965). The women participating in the parade and in later protests were indeed met with physical violence, from male individuals in the general public, and from the male power of the state, by policemen, prison doctors, and prison guards.

Most like Hamilton, 19: The Musical does give us the chance to directly attach the movement's actions, directions, and decisions to that jumble of names associated with it, both the well-known and lesser-known: Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Ida B. Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland, and Susan B. Anthony. A talented cast of women singers give these unconventional figures of history spark and sorrow, persistence and fortitude. It is Alice Paul, an American who fought with the suffragettes in the UK and then returned home to help bring along women's suffrage in the USA, who took the fight directly to President Woodrow Wilson, visibly picketing the White House with her National Women's Party members on a daily basis. Upon finally being granted an audience with the embarrassed POTUS, in the first of a handful of meetings, he tells her to wait and trust that women will get the vote--eventually. Just not now. The history of broken promises decades prior, to Anthony and others, keeps Paul and Party picketing -- protest, arrest, release, repeat -- until the 19th Amendment is not only passed in 1919 but also ratified in 1920.

The song that bookends the musical itself is titled, "Easy," which admonishes at the beginning and reminds at the end that none of getting to the 19th Amendment was easy to accomplish. And because the fight took so long, it makes sense that Act II pulses with a song titled, "Reclaiming My Time." The phrase became closely associated with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), after she was shown effectively and expertly using the phrase in a Congressional hearing with then Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, in a video clip that went viral in 2017. Admittedly a little jarring to hear the phrase from Alice Paul and her suffragettes. But the meaning is the same; no more time is to be wasted on worthless pursuits, but on ways to move forward and achieve the goals ahead.

The most complete record of 19: The Musical is this audiobook. But it should be noted that an advance, abbreviated performance of the stage production was livestreamed on YouTube by the National Archives, back in 2019. The National Archives also posted a discussion of the musical with the book and lyrics writers, Jennifer Schwed and Doug Bradshaw, in 2020. Composer Charlie Barnett wrote about 19 :The Musical on his website and has some of the songs on Bandcamp.

Follow 19: The Musical on Instagram. Hear a couple of scenes/songs from the audiobook on the 19: The Musical SoundCloud.

This was a really good recording, and the cast was excellent! I felt like I was listening to the musical from backstage as it went on. The cast brought the words to life! That being said, I wasn't particularly moved by the actual musical itself. The music and lyrics felt uninspired and, at times, too anachronistic. I don't tend to love that in musicals! It just didn't work for me.

I wish more Broadway plays did books like this because it makes art so much more accessible.

The sprinkled in modern references took away from the flow for me. It felt forced and out of place. They needed to either go all out with modern language or cut it out completely. There were also some lines in some early songs that felt a little wordy and jumbled.

I needed there to be more discussion about the fact that racist women were prioritized over women of color and fighting for “all women” realistically meant “all white women” because the southern states didn’t let any Black people, men or women, vote for almost another 50 years.

I really enjoyed this. The music was beautiful & it taught a lot about the suffragette movement.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This was a fun and interesting audio book. The narration was very good. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad.

<i>19: The Musical</i> is an audio version of the musical telling the story of suffragists Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Inez Milholland and their tireless work to get women the right to vote. Before listening to this musical, I had no idea how much brutality the suffragists endured to get us the right to vote. I really enjoyed this musical and would love to see more musicals converted to audiobooks like this.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

This is an audiobook recording of 19: the Musical. This is the story of women's suffrage and the women who worked so hard to make the 19th Amendment happen. Told in spoken word and brilliant and catchy songs, 19 is not to be missed. While I am sure seeing a live production would be the ultimate experience, the audiobook performance can stand on its own. Full of HERstory and the modern quips and references which make Broadway what it is, 19 is fun and engaging to listen to and informative from the perspective that women's stories are so often glossed over in HIStory class. Bravo to the writers and entire cast!

Listen to this with your girls!

Thank you to NetGalley and Through the 4th Wall for the opportunity to listed to the audiobook ARC.

Super interesting to engage with a musical this way thorugh an audiobook format. It was definitly a first for me but it worked. I could definitly see the inspiration from Hamilton for this musical.
The message and overall story of the book was good and at times brutal - but the brutality was also necessary. I feel like it hit it's mark in that regard. There were a few times were I don't feel like the Hamilton-esque inspiration really worked. Meaning the occasional 'clever' and 'modern' sentences and utterings by the historical characters felt a little off. It didn't feel integrated into the store presentation the way that it did with Hamilton. I think this is mostly due to the music. The music was very often in a very historical format with one song almost being an opera - or at least sung by someone who clearly has done work in the opera. They weren't formatted in a modern or 'hip' way that Hamilton's songs were, which made the inclusion of modern expressions a little odd at times.
That being said I am glad I invested my time into listening to this audiobook/play. It was very interesting and I definitly earned a lot about the women's rights movement in USA that I did not know before.

This isn't perfect, but it's fun and it's unique and it's inspiring! And it's so so relevant. There is drama, historical context, and so many musical numbers. The style feels dated, which actually made it appropriate for the content. I hope schools get hold of this so kids can learn about these important issues in a fun way. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this full performance audiobook

Loved the idea of a musical audiobook! I learned a lot and enjoyed the uniqueness to this book, but I would've enjoyed it more if the music were a bit more upbeat. Finished it in a day.

I love historical fiction and I love musicals so to me this was perfect! I am constantly blown away realizing how little I know about history. 19: The Musical does an incredible job of packing in, both information and emotion. I'll probably listen again, because there was so much that I didn't catch. It was also harrowing to see what an uphill battle equality was then and how we're still fighting for fighting for equality today.

While I appreciated the voice and perspective of Ida B. Wells, I wish the story focused on her more. Her inclusion kind of reminded me of Mercedes treatment on Glee - she only comes in at the end to belt out an emotional number. I also wish that the musical production was a bit more over-the-top. I remember moments of the story but can't really remember any of the songs.

Overall, an enjoyable and educational listen!

As a huge fan of musicals/theatre and history, I could not wait to immerse myself in the production. Unfortunately, at the halfway point is when I could not listen anymore. The storyline felt extremely choppy and the random modern references despite it being in the early 1900's was extremely cringey.
Love the idea of sharing the stories of these women, but this musical needs a lot of fine tuning before I would finish the audiobook or buy tickets to see it.

This is a very educational musical and I think it will mostly find an audience in classroom settings. I did learn a lot and it's always fun to hear history put in a more entertaining format.

That said, it feels a bit rough around the edges. The characters aren't well developed and none of the songs were particularly catchy; I wouldn't ever go back and listen to them again. I was also sometimes confused about who was speaking. Some musicals really work when you just listen to the cast recording as opposed to seeing the stage version, but I just don't know that this was one of them.

Thank you Net Galley and Through the 4th wall publishing for this ARC! This was a wonderful musical with depth. I particularly enjoyed how it concluded in a way to keep you thinking about where we are today and a reminder that anything can change on a dime. I think it brings crucial equality issues to light and is really appropriate for today, in light of Roe v wade overturning, equal pay and other women’s rights we continue to struggle with today.

Amazing for lovers of history and musicals.
Music is so good. Songs are so catchy and fun!
This musical also give amazing history on a major event in history.
LOVE IT!!

Thank you to Net Galley for the digital recording of 19: The Musical for exchange of a review. This was an interesting musical about the Women Suffrage Movement, The Passage of the 19 Movement and the people were the driven force behind it.