The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (part 2 of 2)
I enjoyed watching that on many levels! Great performances, clever show, incredible capture. What's not to like? Let me know your thoughts below about it as well as what you'd like us to check out next!
Comments (8)
Starkid came from a Harry Potter musical they posted online to show their friends and family and accidentally went viral. They kept making parody musicals until they switched to original shows, the first written by Jeff Blim called Trail to Oregon. There's a great little documentary on youtube made by Wait in the Wings that talks about how Jeff's crazy idea for a musical based on the video game literally saved Starkid as a company and pivoted their entire direction. Also, fun note, Darren Criss was a co-founder and used to write a lot of their early music in their shows. The shows are funded through kickstarter and the cast also does concert performances that let other people perform the songs. I would highly recommend the following shows from them: Nerdy Prudes Must Die, by far their best production and you can skip Black Friday without missing too much, that is my go to show to show someone who has never seen a Starkid show. Twisted, one of their best parody musicals based on Aladdin where Jafar is the good guy, heavily inspired by Wicked. Trail to Oregon, this one is very wacky silly but has some of my favourite songs and more improv/sketch style. Lastly reacting to the song Nightmare Time would be very fun as well, it's an intro they made for live play readings they did over zoom through covid for Hatchetfield short stories.
That was GREAT! I wouldn’t mind watching more of these guys. I haven’t seen many of their more recent shows so I’d be up for that. I was a big Harry Potter fan back in the day and their very first show (2009) was A Very Potter Musical. Lauren Lopez (Emma) rocked a short blond wig and stole the show playing Draco Malfoy. Darren Criss who went on to do Glee and star on Broadway played Harry. I watched several of their shows after that but fell off the wagon because, life. It was fun rediscovering them with you! Other than more Starkid I love the idea of watching a tv series together like Galavant or Schmigadoon. It would also be so fun to hear highlights from A Vampire Story!
I'm not sure if you're still going off of votes from that post you made a couple weeks ago, but I would very much love to continue doing actual shows. There are enough recent pro-shots to last us a while: Next to Normal (of course), Come From Away, Heathers, Waitress, Frozen (so much better than the movie, and I LIKE the movie! but the staging is insane), Kinky Boots, Falsettos, She Loves Me, Shrek the Musical, Chess in Concert, Legally Blonde the Musical (* harder to find bc it aired on MTV in 2007, but one of my favorites EVER), Company, Phantom of the Opera (at RAH), Love Never Dies (PotO sequel)...that's all I've got at the moment.
There are also some recent-ish musical movies that we could watch (that don't have pro-shots: The Last Five Years, the West Side Story remake (I adored it), Tick Tick... Boom!, Mean Girls, In The Heights (I'm not a big fan of it, but it's not like I love every pro-shot suggestion I made, either), Matilda the Musical... way less of those than pro-shots, but the first three I personally love.
"It's 2018...and it can't even BLOW ITSELF UP?!" is, for some reason, one of my favorite jokes/bits in this show (and maybe all of Starkid). Maybe because it comes right before the BEST and most iconic song in the show.
My favorite from Act 1 is "Nooooo Charlotte, we are all from different denominations. I'm a Presbyterian; I'm not gonna die in your dirty ass Methodist church." It even made my religious family members laugh when I showed them years ago. Although Tim's complete lack of a laugh there made me wonder if he was -- or is perhaps close to -- any Methodist Christians 😅 (the joke references a stereotype that I had never heard of, so idk if it's something people actually think).
I'm so glad you enjoyed this. I would love you to check out more starkids like their nerdy prudes must die. That is another one of their shows that show just how good they are
I would also be interested in other musicals that were also suggested so I suggest check out the next one on that list