Starkid Songs

[Donat Ruel]

StarKidProductions, also known as Team StarKid, is an American musical theatre company founded in 2009 at the University of Michigan by Darren Criss, Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang. Originally known for the viral success of their first musical, A Very Potter Musical, a parody of the Harry Potter series, the troupe primarily produces musical comedies inspired by pop culture, with original scripts, songs, and music. StarKid distributes their musicals for free on YouTube, with recent projects being funded by Kickstarter and physical ticket sales.

Since the success of A Very Potter Musical, the group has produced thirteen stage musicals (including two Potter sequels), three national tours, two reunion concert specials, a concert in London, three sketch comedy shows, and three web series.

As of 2023, the company has charted 13 albums in the top 10 on Billboard charts.[2] The cast recording of Me and My Dick debuted at number 11 on the US Cast Albums chart in 2010, becoming the first student-produced musical recording to chart on Billboard. The following year they landed at number one on the same chart with the cast recording of Starship, a feat that has since been repeated with their 2019 musical Black Friday, and their 2023 musical Nerdy Prudes Must Die.

StarKid Productions is composed of actors, writers, directors, composers, choreographers, and designers, most of them originating from the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theater and Dance. The members met while collaborating on plays through Basement Arts, the university's student-run theater organization.

In April 2009, the students staged a musical parody of the Harry Potter series entitled A Very Potter Musical.[3] The video of the play went viral on the Internet, garnering StarKid a worldwide fanbase.[3] Inspired by the viral nature of the video, StarKid Productions was formed, named after a quote from A Very Potter Musical. Later, two sequels were performed and released on YouTube, A Very Potter Sequel in 2010 and A Very Potter Senior Year in 2012.[4][5]

The Team StarKid YouTube channel was created on June 19, 2009.[6] As of April 2024, the channel has over 810,000 subscribers and over 340 million combined views.[6] Aside from the viral Harry Potter adaptions, Team StarKid has produced a number of other musical theatre parody shows, creating both original stories and pop culture-based parodies of Disney, DC Comics, Star Wars and The Oregon Trail.

The Trail to Oregon! was performed in 2014 in Chicago and ran concurrently with Ani: A Parody.[15] It is based on The Oregon Trail video game series. It features the Father, Mother, Daughter, Son, and Grandpa characters in their journey to Oregon. In the show, audience members get to choose the names of the characters as well as decide on the musical's ending. It was released on YouTube on February 14, 2015.

Firebringer was performed in 2016 in Chicago. Set in the prehistoric era, the story features Zazzalil, who in pursuit of simplifying everyone's lives comes up with inventions and discovers fire in the process. Firebringer was released on YouTube on January 1, 2017.

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals was performed in 2018 in Los Angeles. It is the first installment of StarKid's Hatchetfield saga. It depicts Paul, the titular "guy who didn't like musicals", and his experiences as the people of Hatchetfield mysteriously start singing and dancing in choreographed musical numbers. The musical was released on YouTube on December 23, 2018.

Black Friday was performed in 2019 in Los Angeles. It is the sequel of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals and is part of the Hatchetfield saga. In the musical, Black Friday shoppers are overcome with an overwhelming desire to obtain a "Wiggly" doll, to the point of killing anyone who gets in their way. The musical was released on YouTube on February 29, 2020.

Nerdy Prudes Must Die was performed in February 2023 in Los Angeles. It is the third musical in the Hatchetfield saga. In the musical, a plan by a group of nerds to fight back against a bully backfires when they become haunted by his murderous ghost with a vendetta against "nerdy prudes". It was released on YouTube on October 13, 2023.

VHS Christmas Carols is a musical originally performed in November 2023. It expands on the 2020 live-streamed production based on A Christmas Carol, with The Gift of the Magi and The Little Matchstick Girl serving as additional bases, making it a "trilogy" version of the original. It has not yet been released on YouTube, and according to StarKid's official website, "there are no concrete plans to release [VHS Christmas Carols] on YouTube" as of yet.[13]

Cinderella's Castle is an upcoming musical based on the tale of Cinderella. It is scheduled to be performed in Los Angeles in late July, 2024.[16] The musical is a dark retelling of the classic damsel-in-distress fairy tale with an original 80s-esque "synth-pop" soundtrack, elaborate puppetry, and a cast of 10.[17]

StarKid produced a sequel to their 2011 musical Starship called Starship: Requiem that was performed on August 2, 2014 at LeakyCon in Orlando, FL. However, it was a one-time "theatrical reading" and, as such, Team StarKid does not include it in their musical canon.[14] The story followed the adventures of the android Mega-Girl and her half-witted Starship Ranger husband, Tootsie Noodles, as the newlyweds go to visit Mega-Girl's human-hating family.[18]

Workin' Boys is a musical short film directed by Nick Lang, with songs by Jeff Blim and a book by Nick Lang & Matt Lang. It is based on the fictional musical mentioned in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. In The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, the character of Professor Hidgens pitches his musical, entitled Workin' Boys: A New Musical. The real life Workin' Boys depicts the events leading up to as well as during the staging of his musical. It was livestreamed on October 13, 2023 as part of the Hatchetfield Halloween Party event and was then made available for free to Kickstarter backers of the SK 10niversary event on October 30, 2023.[20] It was released on YouTube on April 27, 2024.

In 2007, members including Matt Lang, Nick Lang, Eric Kahn Gale, Brian Holden, Darren Criss, Lauren Lopez, Elona Love (ne Finlay), Chris Allen, Meredith Stepien, and Jim Povolo produced an online video series called Little White Lie. It was released in 2009 on StarKid's YouTube channel.[27]

Despite the series ending in a cliffhanger, StarKid members have confirmed at various events that there will be no season 2, as it was an expensive production and the actors who took part in it are scattered all over the country. However, Eric Kahn Gale, one of the writers for the show, stated that he would write and publish a synopsis of season 2, which was released on September 3, 2013 on his Tumblr page.[28]

In October 2017, StarKid debuted its second web series on YouTube, Movies, Musicals, and Me. The series takes place in an alternate world where every popular movie ever has been adapted into a Broadway musical. The best of these musicals all star the same man, Halpert Evans, a vain and pompous, though brilliant, actor. The series is structured as a mockumentary of Evans, chronicling the most significant musical roles of his career, along with commentary from various colleagues in Halpert's line of work. The series introduces StarKid newcomers Esther Fallick as Halpert Evans and Mary Kate Wiles as Judy Davendale. Joey Richter, Nick Lang, Brian Holden, Dylan Saunders, Lauren Lopez, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Corey Dorris, and Clark Baxtresser also star.

On October 1, 2020, StarKid announced a new three-episode horror anthology series set in the world of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals and Black Friday.[29] It featured six stories read by the cast of the shows. Performances took place virtually on October 10, 17, and 24, 2020.[30] In August 2021, a second season was announced. A cast recording was released on February 8, 2021.[31]

The next year, StarKid later livestreamed Nightmare Time 2, the second season of the series. Four performances took place virtually on October 23 and 30 and on November 6 and 13, 2021. The entire cast from the first season returned with the exceptions of Robert Manion and Kendall Nicole. The series was also the StarKid debut of Bryce Charles and Jae Hughes.[32][non-primary source needed] The episodes were released weekly on StarKid's YouTube channel between May 20, 2022 and June 10, 2022.[33]

"Boy Toy" is a song from "Little White Lie," a web show that Team StarKid produced before they stared producing musicals and posting them online. The web show is full of hilarious songs, but my favorite has always been "Boy Toy," a fun and peppy tune sung by Lauren Lopez.

"Granger Danger" is a fun song from "A Very Potter Musical." It is a duet between Ron and Draco about their love for Hermione Granger. Sung by Joey Richter and Lauren Lopez, the duet showcases two of my favorite StarKids!

"Harry Freakin' Potter" is a song in "A Very Potter Sequel," explaining the story of Harry Potter. It is a fun way to begin the musical, and one of the classic StarKid songs! This song features vocals from Joey Richter, Jamie Lyn Beatty and Darren Criss, as well as the "AVPS" cast members.

"Days of Summer" is featured in "A Very Potter Sequel." It is a simple song at the end of the musical, and it tells about the importance of friends and how Hogwarts brought them together. The song is sung by the company of "AVPS."

"I Wanna Be" is a song from "Starship," one of StarKid's earlier musicals and one put on almost entirely with puppets. This song is sung by the entire cast, and is a fun beginning to the show. It also does a good idea of setting up the plot of she show, as the main character sings about his dream of being a Starship Ranger.

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