Feelings Atrium: Spice Girls Musical, ‘Viva Forever!’ Trailer

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The world has come a long way since the Spice Girls’ reign over pop music, a particularly optimistic period of our lives filled with lollipops, platform shoes and a staunch belief that all of life’s problems could be solved if we’d just apply a little more more Girl Power. That said, there is not a single portion of my heart that did not twitch with glee at the very mention of a Spice Girls musical, to say nothing of this trailer.

The plot of Viva Forever seems really unclear, but probably has something to do with five girls of various ethnic backgrounds, British accents and fashion senses coming together and triumphing over the odds through the power of friendship. The songs aren’t quite as magical without the Spice Girls themselves singing, though I’m frankly impressed they were able to get so much mileage out of “Move Over,” a song written specifically to be a Pepsi commercial. All that aside, I still find the music of the Spice Girls tremendously exciting, and the songs have certainly held up through the years. I’ve never been a big fan of musicals as a genre, and reviews for Viva Forever have been tepid at best, but this has not stopped me from entertaining the notion of flying to the UK just to see this production.

For those of us who still know every word to the film Spice World, this part of our lives has never actually died. I’ll still be giddy about all Spice Girls related things fifty years from now, and Viva Forever seems to be banking on this. It doesn’t matter if this show is good or bad – I’d still totally see it and shout along with every word, because GIRL POWER.

Discuss.

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Stef

Stef Schwartz is a founding member and the self-appointed Vapid Fluff Editor at Autostraddle.com. She currently resides in New York City, where she spends her days writing songs nobody will ever hear and her nights telling much more successful musicians what to do. Follow her on twitter and/or instagram.

Stef has written 464 articles for us.

11 Comments

  1. I absolutely love the Spice Girls, and I live for musical theatre, but this looks horrible. That being said, if it comes to NY, I will see it and probably cry.

    • this is precisely exactly how i feel
      this musical looks horrible but if i would 100% see it
      kind of like how i had to watch grease 2 and the remake of footloose

    • Hah, same! Cry and silently sing along. Though I’d probably only see it if I could get a rush ticket or standing room. I’ve only paid more than $35 to see a show maybe 5 or 6 times.

  2. I tell you what ladies, I’ll go and see it for you. Or actually I could just stab myself in the eyes and ears with forks… I think it would have the same effect on me.

  3. I think it speaks volumes that I didn’t even recognize most of the songs simply because of how they rearranged them. I’m not sure how I feel about this execution.

  4. That looks like a hot, confusing mess of a musical. I agree with @Paper0Flowers — what’s with the arrangements of the songs into hard to recognize numbers?

    Watching the trailer gave me a craving to watch Spiceworld, so that’s something.

  5. The musical is about a girl, Viva, and her friends going into a talent show as a band, but then splitting up because Viva wants to make it on her own. It is meant to reflect the talent show culture that dominates the UK.

    I read mixed reviews and friends who went to see it and are huge fans also had mixed reactions. Most people said it didn’t make their songs or their spirit justice, but honestly I don’t think any musical, regardless of who wrote it and who starred in it, would ever measure to the perfected child memory we have of them and what they represented.

    • “I don’t think any musical, regardless of who wrote it and who starred in it, would ever measure to the perfected child memory we have of them and what they represented.”

      Challenge accepted.

  6. I want to see this but I agree with Susi. Not sure if anything will ever capture that moment in our lives. Were the actors even alive then? :p

  7. you wrote a thing! and it was about the best thing on the planet aka the spice girls aka i hope we all viva forever.

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