Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music is currently streaming on HBO Max

Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music (2023)106 minDocumentary, MusicRating 50/100

In 2016, Taylor Mac performed a one-time-only, 24-hour concert that 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 through elaborate, decade-specific costumes designed by Mac’s longtime collaborator Machine Dazzle. Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (HBO’s “The Celluloid Closet,” “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”), the documentary captures Mac’s marathon performance in New York, alongside footage from other shows on the tour. 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.

Cast: Taylor Mac, Machine Dazzle Flower, Matt Ray, Niegel Smith, Anastasia Durasova, Heather Christian, Anaïs Mitchell

Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman