On a Saturday afternoon, children aged 4-11 are lined up dressed in their best Eras Tour-styled attire: heart-shaped red sunglasses inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Red” album, blue and green face glitter inspired by the singer’s self-titled album, “Taylor Swift,” and shimmery yellow dresses, inspired by her sophomore album, “Fearless.”
The familiar click of scanned tickets echoes alongside the excited shrieks and hushed murmurs of young Taylor Swift fans, boys and girls alike. “I can’t wait to see Taylor,” some say. “Do you think we’ll be able to meet her?”
But despite the children’s Eras Tour-themed gear, this line is not for Taylor Swift’s highest-grossing tour — which ran from March 17, 2023 to Dec. 7, 2024. Instead, the children stand outside of the CM Performing Arts Center in Oakdale, located at the corner of a shopping mall plaza off Montauk Highway. Inside, Elizabeth Edquist, a 31-year-old Long Island performer who has been impersonating the singer-songwriter for a year, is mere feet from the crowd backstage, transforming herself into Taylor Swift.
Parents and grandparents stand beside their “Swifties” to buy t-shirts and posters of Elizabeth as Totally Taylor — the name she has given her tribute act. Standing on the other side of the merchandise table, pulling correct t-shirt sizes out of boxes, is Donna Edquist, Elizabeth’s mother.
“Enjoy,” Donna says, giving a slight wave to a young girl walking hand in hand with her mother into the auditorium. “Get ready to see Taylor!”
Inside the auditorium, young Taylor Swift fans pass around friendship bracelets and try on each other’s sunglasses as Elizabeth’s glittery background transforms the Long Island theater’s stage into the Eras Tour.
Lights reflect off Elizabeth’s pink and blue bodysuit, nearly identical to one of Taylor Swift’s costumes, as she enters from behind the curtain. The opening chords of Taylor Swift’s hit single off her “Lover” album, “Cruel Summer,” sound through the speakers.
But before Elizabeth starts to sing, she clutches her sparkly pink microphone, and doing her best to imitate Taylor Swift’s voice, says: “Oh hi!”
The room fills with a collective excited scream.
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THEATER KID
In 1995, Donna Edquist and her then-2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, made the 90-minute drive from Glenwood Landing into Midtown Manhattan, where Donna had a surprise waiting.
Donna held her daughter’s hand as she guided her into her first Broadway show, based on young Elizabeth’s favorite story, “Beauty and the Beast.”
“She was mesmerized,” Donna recalled, adding that her toddler stayed silent and “wide-eyed” throughout the performance.
Elizabeth was so captivated, Donna said, that Broadway shows became a regular mother-daughter pastime.
“I’m not going to say she loved Broadway the very first time we went,” Donna said. “But when she was in middle school, she got involved in theater and started taking acting classes with her friends. That’s sort of when I saw that, she has what it takes. It was her favorite thing to do.”
“It was wonderful that she loved something I also loved,” Donna said. She also studied theater briefly in college before changing her major to psychology. “It made it that much more enjoyable.”
But though it was clear Elizabeth loved theater, it wasn’t always so clear what she wanted to do with that passion.
Until she heard about an intriguing idea from a friend.
PRINCESS TO POP PRINCESS
Before Elizabeth was pop princess Taylor Swift, she was Disney princess Elsa, from the 2013 movie “Frozen.”
During Elizabeth’s second year at New York University’s Tisch School of Arts, where she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in 2016, a friend living in Chicago told Elizabeth that she had started performing as a princess for children’s parties.
So, Elizabeth had an idea: if her friend could perform as a princess in Chicago, why couldn’t she do so in New York?
Once she had a costume made, Elizabeth began volunteering her services, dressing up as the Disney princess for her college classmates who worked as babysitters. As winter break approached, Elizabeth started dressing up as holiday characters, too.
“I did a couple of parties, and then slowly realized I could do this,” she said, adding that at first, she landed bookings through word of mouth. “It was really just me and whatever characters I could play.”
“Our costumes were fairly basic,” she added. “At the time, I didn’t know where to get certain things like professional wigs and costumes. It was a big learning curve.”
By late 2015, Elizabeth decided to make it a full-time commitment. She launched the website for Royal Princess Prep Entertainment on Jan. 9, 2016, during the Tisch student’s last semester.
But the children’s party company didn’t take off right away. Elizabeth says she initially worked as a waitress to make ends meet and spent her summers working at Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington.
“It was obviously a very slow build,” Elizabeth says. “But about two years in, we were busy every weekend. It’s really grown from there.”
She runs Royal Princess alongside her mother. Elizabeth says the two of them share a close relationship like that of Rory and Lorelai Gilmore from “Gilmore Girls.”
Most of the creative ideas, Donna said, come from Elizabeth, whereas Donna handles more of the business side, like ordering costumes and employee payroll.
Royal Princess now offers over 140 characters, ranging from Disney princesses, Marvel superheroes, storybook characters like Fancy Nancy, holiday elves and of course, celebrities — Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball. Starting private party rates range from $250-$350 depending on the character.
She has no official office space, Elizabeth said. The basement of Donna’s home in Glenwood Landing is filled with hundreds of costumes, wigs and other accessories.
“We’re glad to have a second level to keep all the business stuff, instead of in our actual living space, which is where it used to be,” Elizabeth said, laughing. “You’d be surprised how much was able to fit in my living room.”
The performer travels for parties throughout the island and goes to Manhattan. She’s willing to travel to neighboring states, too, and has gone as far as Hyannis, Massachusetts for a private event last summer.
When the pandemic hit, Elizabeth says she and Donna invented ways to keep Royal Princess afloat. The mother-daughter pair continued hosting events virtually on Facebook Live. They realized in advance they would have to make a shift.
“We had events booked into the summer, and my mom said, ‘It’s coming. It’s not going to happen,’” Elizabeth said. “So, we decided the best thing to do was start with some story time online.”
Within 48 hours of her first princess story time virtual event, Elizabeth says her Facebook jumped from 200 to nearly 4,000 members. In addition to story times, the actress started offering other virtual events: princess ballet lessons, children’s character yoga, baking with Rapunzel, and more.
“I was constantly creating and trying to find new ways to reach people,” Elizabeth said.
Erin Gualtieri, a frequent client of Elizabeth’s, said she first learned about Royal Princess’s services through a virtual event.
Gualtieri said she and her then-4-year-old daughter, Evelyn, planned to visit Disney World in March 2020. But when Covid-19 interrupted those plans, Elizabeth stepped in.
Gualtieri says that her young daughter knew they couldn’t take the trip. “So then seeing the princesses online — we even sent (Elizabeth) letters that the princesses would answer back — it gave us a chunk full of activities to do that felt special,” she added.
Post-pandemic, Gualtieri, who lives in Central Jersey, says she has made the trek to Long Island to take Evelyn, now 8, to a few of Elizabeth’s in-person princess events. But despite how many times she has met Elizabeth, Gualtieri says her daughter still believes in the illusion.
“The wigs, the makeup, everything is so perfect, there has never been a second where she has questioned,” Gualtieri said. “As far as Evelyn is concerned, she’s just Miss Elizabeth who works behind the scenes. She has no idea she has met her many, many times.”
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BECOMING TOTALLY TAYLOR
Elizabeth can transform herself into a credible version of Taylor Swift, but the actress doesn’t really resemble the singer. She shares Swift’s piercing blue eyes, but unlike her long blonde hair and even-cut bangs, Elizabeth’s hair is red and cut closer to her shoulders. She’s slender but considerably shorter than the singer-songwriter — Elizabeth is 5’4, whereas Swift is 5’11.
Rather than merely lip-syncing to Taylor Swift’s music, Elizabeth sings the songs herself, accompanied on stage by four dancers.
Maegan Bilter, dancer for the Totally Taylor show and longtime friend of Elizabeth’s, said she was concerned that kids might not believe that Elizabeth is the pop star due to her global fame. That is until, Maegan said, she realized that might not be such a bad thing.
“Taylor Swift is so huge that she’s not fake, but she’s almost like a character now,” Maegan said. “We’ve seen at shows that even older kids will come even if they know it’s not her. They just love the music so much.”
For Elizabeth, the decision to start impersonating Taylor Swift wasn’t a difficult one. She said she has admired the singer’s music since her debut album in 2006. She first started performing as the songstress in November 2023 for children’s private parties and had only two costumes.
“I assumed this would only be a party thing,” Elizabeth said. “I never really anticipated it being more than that when it started. But then we quickly realized this was something that people were looking for.”
She began performing Eras Tour-themed events last March and has since performed at venues across Long Island.
Long Island parent Lisa Ferrara brought her daughter, Kayleith Ferrara, 10, to a “Totally Taylor” performance last December as an early Christmas gift.
“She told me last year that she wanted to go see Taylor Swift,” Lisa said. “But then I saw the price of her tickets, and that she wasn’t playing anywhere around New York.”
Lisa said she purchased the $40 ticket to see Elizabeth at CM Performing Arts, though she knew her daughter would know it wasn’t Swift.
“I was really excited,” Kayleith said, adding that her mother kept the show a surprise.
Transforming herself into Taylor Swift takes Elizabeth about an hour and a half. She pays close attention to signature-Swift details, like the singer’s winged black eyeliner and red lipstick.
“Until I put that lipstick on, it’s not Taylor,” Elizabeth said.
But makeup alone doesn’t complete Taylor Swift’s character — it’s her mannerisms, too. Elizabeth said she spends hours studying anything from her hand gestures to the singer’s different body movements in each of her costumes.
“Each shoe has her moving slightly differently,” Elizabeth said. “Obviously she wears a ton of those beautiful boots. But some of the shoes are not that. In a flat, now it’s a different feeling.”
But impersonating the singer has come with obstacles. Some of Elizabeth’s Instagram reels where she performs as Taylor Swift have gained millions of views, opening the door to comments on her weight and body image.
“There is definitely a feeling that people are watching me and expect me to look a certain way,” Elizabeth said.
She acknowledged that while she doesn’t follow the singer’s same rigorous workout routine, she does run and weight lift to keep her body healthy for the long performances.
“People are definitely looking at me and my body, because it’s all out there,” Elizabeth said. “But for me, it’s more about the kids and how much it matters to them and how exciting it is for them to be there in that moment.”
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‘THIS GIRL HAS MAGIC’
Back at the CM Performing Arts Center, Elizabeth comes close to emulating Taylor Swift’s magic. Her powerful voice is uniquely her own. Her performance, though derived from Swift’s tour, is uniquely hers, too.
Her show has a similar 3-hour run time. But unlike the Eras Tour, Totally Taylor breaks for a 25-minute intermission.
Also unlike Eras, she strays from the 35-year-old singer’s set. Depending on the season, Elizabeth performs Taylor Swift tunes that didn’t make the singer’s real-life setlist. She also performs the show out of the original order. The “Speak Now” era comes toward the end of her show rather than the beginning, and she sings the ballad “Back to December” instead of Swift’s original song choice for the era, “Enchanted.”
Brendan Bitler, choreographer and dancer for the Totally Taylor show, says that while he incorporated elements of Taylor Swift’s tour into his choreography, the shows are not identical, adding that he included “his own flair.”
Because Elizabeth can’t change costumes as speedily as Swift, Thomas Greene, dancer for the Totally Taylor show, says he helped come up with an idea to keep the audience engaged between eras — Taylor Swift trivia. For each correct answer, Greene runs through the auditorium, awarding prizes in the form of friendship bracelets.
But while Elizabeth’s four dancers add a unique element to her show — they even change outfits alongside her, usually keeping a black and white color scheme — for many songs, the impersonator takes the stage solo.
Jordan Bonfiglio, a longtime Long Island client of Elizabeth’s, said that the first time she brought her daughter Ella, 6, to see the performer, she made even Bonfiglio “feel like a child.”
“I remember being like, ‘This girl has magic,’” Bonfiglio said. “She has something in her soul that is really going to take off.”
END OF AN ERA
Elizabeth ends Totally Taylor with a familiar bow while performing “Karma,” waving at the crowd alongside her dancers dressed in shimmery colorful jackets.
Outside the auditorium, kids line up for a photo with Elizabeth, who is still dressed as Taylor Swift. She maintains her best impression of Swift’s voice, answering questions about the singer’s three cats and football star boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
Elizabeth, despite having impersonated the songstress for so long, never got to attend an Eras Tour show. As Elizabeth hands Swift-themed trading cards to her young fans, it’s evident that even for her, this is her Eras Tour.
It has been six months since Taylor Swift performed her last Eras Tour date, but Elizabeth has not stopped performing as the pop star. The impersonator has maintained residency at CM and has been performing “Totally Taylor” throughout the year, with an upcoming show date on June 21. She also still accepts Swift-themed private party bookings.
Elizabeth said that she greatly looks up to Taylor Swift as a role model and hopes she can continue to bring people together with the songwriter’s music.
Brendan, who has witnessed Royal Princess evolve into what it is today, said he admires the strength it took for Elizabeth to build her company from scratch.
“It took on a life of its own,” he said. “I feel like it takes a special type of person to do that.”
As her mother, Donna, and dancer, Greene, roll away t-shirts and other merchandise to clear the theater for another performance, Elizabeth heads to change out of her “Midnights” album themed dark blue bodysuit, awaiting Totally Taylor’s next era.
Edquist won Best Celebrity Impersonator in the 2025 FourLeaf Best of Long Island contest. See pictures here.
