BARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE

Taylor Mac and Matt Ray dig into history
for a two-hour explosion of music, theater, and drag

Taylor Mac does not do small. The MacArthur-winning playwright, performer, singer-songwriter and professional button-pusher returns to Boston with composer and longtime collaborator Matt Ray for Songs from Bark of Millions, a two-hour concert drawn from their gloriously excessive Bark of Millions. And “drawn from” is important here: the complete work contains 55 original songs and runs four hours. ArtsEmerson is giving Boston the more manageable version October 15–18 at the Emerson Paramount Center’s Robert J. Orchard Stage.

Taylor Mac (Daniel Boud)

Mac and Ray conceived Bark of Millions as a musical history populated by figures whose lives and stories have often been pushed to the margins or erased altogether. The songs take inspiration from people across centuries and cultures, with the pair using biography less as a history lesson than as fuel for an enormous musical party. The original work premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 2023 before making its U.S. premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music the following year.

Bark of Millions (Julieta Cervantes)

For Boston, Mac and Ray have assembled a powerhouse company of 17 artists for a concert that brings together live music, theater and plenty of drag. Mac supplies the lyrics and direction; Ray, an Obie-winning composer, pianist and multi-instrumentalist, handles the music and musical direction. And anyone familiar with designer Machine Dazzle knows that “concert version” should not be mistaken for people standing politely at microphones. His outrageous costumes are part of the event.

Taylor Mac (Daniel Boud)

Mac and Ray have been making wonderfully unruly theater together for years. Their mammoth A 24-Decade History of Popular Music turned 240 years of American history into a musical marathon and became the subject of an HBO documentary; they later collaborated on the jazz-infused The Hang, for which Ray received a 2023 Obie Award. Bark of Millions continues their fascination with history, but this time the people who rarely made it into the conventional history books get the songs.

Bark of Millions (Julieta Cervantes)

There’s another reason the Boston engagement is timely. On September 29, Mac and Ray publish a two-volume, fully illustrated Bark of Millions collection containing lyrics, essays about the people who inspired the songs, and lead sheets for the music. The idea is larger than a single theatrical production: they want these stories and songs to remain available for other readers, musicians and performers.

Taylor Mac (Daniel Boud)

ArtsEmerson is presenting Songs from Bark of Millions in association with The Huntington to open its 2026–27 season. You can expect music, history, spectacle, fabulous costumes and probably very little that behaves itself. You can also expect a much earlier bedtime than audiences got from the full four-hour Bark of Millions.

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Taylor Mac and Matt Ray: Songs from Bark of Millions
ArtsEmerson in association with The Huntington
Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington St. in Boston
Thurs. at 7:30; Fri. at 8; Sat. at 2 and 8; Sun. at 2
ends on October 18, 2026
running time: 2 hours, no intermission
tickets start at $27.50
for tickets, call 617.824.8400 or visit ArtsEmerson

for more shows, visit Theater in Boston

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