Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music

In 2016, Taylor Mac performed a one-time-only, 24-hour immersive theatrical experience in front of a live audience at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. The concert offered an alternative take on U.S. history, narrated through music that was popular from the nation’s founding to the present, with Mac transforming hourly by changing into elaborate, decade-specific costumes by Mac’s longtime collaborator Machine Dazzle. The documentary captures Mac’s marathon performance in New York, alongside footage from other shows on the tour, which played throughout the world. In the show, Mac and 24 musicians interpret 24 songs, from “Yankee Doodle” to “Gimme Shelter,” “Born to Run,” and “Gloria,” with one performer leaving the stage each hour, until Mac is on stage alone in the final 24th hour. Rich with stunning musical performances, surprising and revelatory historical interpretation, comedic banter, and audience interaction, the performance is intercut with intimate off-stage interviews with Mac and his closest collaborators. In the interview, Mac, who uses the gender pronoun “judy,” outlines judy’s personal story and artistic aim “to dream the culture forward.” The film also offers a behind-the-scenes window into the work of costume designer Machine Dazzle, who incorporates elaborate, humorous references to American life in each of the 24 decades depicted in Mac’s wildly extravagant outfits.