An Updated Ranking of All of Starkid’s Musicals
Six years ago, I wrote a blog ranking all of Starkid’s musicals. Back then there were only seven shows (all available on YouTube by the way), but since then they’ve managed to churn out five more.
So, I thought it was about time to revisit that list. Maybe make a few changes?
To quote my 2014 self:
“This list was created based on my overall theatrical preferences. I am no Tony jury, but what the hell, it’s a free internet.”
Also: if you’re bored in quarantine, definitely check all of these shows out.
12. Ani: A Parody
Ani is considered (on Wikipedia anyway) as a play with music. Ani played at the same time as The Trail to Oregon in Chicago back in 2014. Ani: A Parody takes the Star Wars prequels and tell it in musical form. Except instead of the actors singing, we have TalkFine seemingly live-scoring the show throughout.
I commend Starkid for going out of the box with this one — it’s just not my favorite. The music wasn’t my favorite, the story wasn’t my favorite. Perhaps what they were trying to do flew over my head? I still prefer my musicals the ol’ fashioned way.
11. Firebringer
Firebringer is Starkid’s musical take on the discovery of fire. Brian Holden and Meredith Stepien joined the Lang Brothers in penning the comedy musical set in the prehistoric times.
Firebringer had so much potential not only with its premise but also with its mostly-female ensemble. Where it fell for me was character and overall story development. The songs also don’t slap as much as the others do. However, I do find myself singing Duck is Lord at random times during the day.
Previous ranking: 5
The third and final installment to the Very Potter Trilogy, this one was not exactly a musical, albeit a stage reading at 2012’s LeakyCon and premiered on YouTube in March 2013. The show isvery transparent in its message of “moving forward” (since it premiered after the end of the original film series and before the announcement of the Fantastic Beasts franchise) and “this is the last Harry Potter musical we’ll do”. AVPSY also served as a farewell to Darren Criss and he has not been in any Starkid musical since. However, he still remains connected to the company.
AVPSY wasn’t a full production and had its fair share of technical mishaps, some of which took away from the whole experience. More than that, AVPSY felt mostly like fanservice, which it probably was, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I just feel like they could have made better choices.
I really can’t fault the show much though since it gave us Meredith as Hermione, Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in two universes (film and fan musical) and essentially the first-ever Starkid reunion (with many more to follow). The music is still great, it just had a completely different vibe from its prequels (probably because Darren didn’t write most of them).
9. The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals
The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals is set in the fictional town of Hatchetfield during an apocalypse in which the US is invaded by aliens that makes everyone break out in song.
The only reason it ranks here is that it hasn’t grown on me yet. Yes, I think Show-Stopping Number is perhaps one of the greatest Starkid songs to date. Sure, it dominated meme culture. Yes, La Dee Dah Day slaps so hard. Yes, Mariah Rose Faith’s riffs are one of the greatest gift to mankind. But that’s just it: the show is great in bits and pieces. I don’t see the overall appeal just yet. (Maybe I have to rewatch this more times idk.)
Previous ranking: 4
The middle child of the Very Potter Trilogy, A Very Potter Sequel is framed as a flashback to Harry and Co’s first year at Hogwarts. It takes elements from Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix, with Mama Umbridge as the primary villain. The show also discusses Snape’s backstory, and introduces both Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. AVPS was intended to be the end to Starkid’s Harry Potter parody musicals, and Darren Criss went on to debut on Glee (and subsequently take over the world) after. Of course, we all know how that went down
Joe Walker portrayal of Mama Umbridge is brilliant (albeit a little problematic). The show has a couple anthems as well, like “The Coolest Girl” and “Home”. It’s ranked here simply because, I don’t have a lot to say about it except I like it, it was good, and “Days of Summer” made me cry.
Based off the popular game, The Trail to Oregon! was a comedy musical which played alongside Ani in Chicago in 2014. An innovative show, it played with “Choose Your Own Adventure” elements by allowing audiences to choose the names of its main characters, as well as its ending. It’s also worth noting that this musical in particular showed just how talented Joey Richter was.
Still not my favorite Starkid musical, largely due to the fact that I didn’t ever play The Oregon Trail. Nonetheless, the music and the story was well-written. This I think is my favorite performance from Rachael Soglin. Also loved Jaime Lyn Beatty’s “On the Trail”.
6. Black Friday
Black Friday is Starkid’s 10th Anniversary musical, premiering in 2019 in LA and 2020 on YouTube. It’s also set in Hatchetfield, but in a different universe that TGWDLM. The story takes place during (you guessed it) Black Friday, as the whole country devolves into chaos because of a toy.
This show hasn’t grown on me yet either, but I’m ranking this higher than TGWDLM because it’s effective both as a horror and a comedy. The whole show’s commentary on consumerism, capitalism and war culture is brilliant. “What if Tomorrow Comes?” is a spine-chilling number and will probably go down in Starkid history as one of the most poignant finales (alongside the pre-epilogue in AVPSY, Twisted’s “A Thousand and One Nights” Reprise and AVPM’s “Not Alone” Reprise). The highest point for me however was the Sondheim-esque Do You Want to Play by Dylan Saunders and Kim Whalen.
Previous Ranking: 7
Holy Musical B@man is a DC comics parody focusing on the adventures of Batman and his loneliness. I’m kidding, but the show largely revolves on how Batman learns to lean on other people (Lego Batman Movie, I know your secrets). It’s set in Gotham and has special appearances from both heroes and villains of the DC universe. The main villain however is a Starkid original named Sweet Tooth, who deals in candy puns and plans to destroy Gotham by poisoning its water system with War Heads.
There are plenty of merits to HMB, not the least introducing the world to the brilliant Jeff Blim, who goes on to play multiple characters in the Starkid universe. The music of HMB is distinct and not as musical theatre-y as the others, but apt for the story. It took me a while to appreciate the show, and what sealed the deal was Batman’s plea to be “somebody’s buddy/with somebody who can be my buddy back”.
Previous Ranking: 3
Me and My Dick tells the story of two oddball friends: Joey and Dick. A comedy musical cum sex ed lesson (wink, wink), MAMD tackles experiences of puberty and sexual exploration, as well as the importance of looking at a person beyond their appearance.
MAMD is in my opinion, Starkid’s most underrated musical. It touches on the politics of gender dynamics and discusses sex without ever being lewd about it. It also manages to sneak in a reference to the Old Wives’ Tale of the uterus leaving the woman’s body during menstruation. “Ready To Go” will forever be a bop to rival such Broadway classics as “Good Morning Baltimore”.
3. Starship
Previous ranking: 6
Set in the alien-world of Bug World, Starship tells the story of Bug, who just wants to be a Starship Ranger. (What an annoying sentence to write.) The show alludes to the film Starship Troopers and is said to be “a cross between The Little Mermaid and Aliens.” The show opens with the song “I Wanna Be (A Starship Ranger)” so that makes absolute sense.
Starship is also the last show in the Starkid canon with all of its music written by Darren Criss. The show received some notoriety after throwing shade at Criss’s involvement with Glee, which made him unavailable to play the part of Tootsie Noodles (played to absolute perfection by Dylan Saunders). In the show, the character Up calls out the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration for “always making twisted abominations of everything!” (My assumption is that they referred to how they rid Criss of his signature curls when he played Blaine Anderson.)
On the surface, Starship is about a creature who sets out to achieve a pipe dream and manages to do so much more. Beyond that however, Starship has some commentary on racism, technological advancement and our intentions on space exploration.
Previous ranking: 2
A Very Potter Musical is the Harry Potter musical parody that essentially put Starkid on the map. It premiered in 2009 and went viral, becoming the subject of plenty of memes and gifsets on Tumblr back in the day. (I say back in the day, it was just a decade ago.) To be perfectly honest, none of us would be here without AVPM.
Ten years later AVPM is still the funniest show that Starkid has ever produced. Probably because the show is Starkid in its purest form. It seems fitting that while Black Friday’s “What if Tomorrow Comes” is one of Starkid’s best finales to date, “Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts” remains the best opening number.
For most of Starkid, I think AVPM is also their best performance. Darren Criss’s Harry Potter is of course unbeatable. Lauren Lopez’s Draco Malfoy is unforgettable. “Granger Danger” still remains one of the best duets of all time. And QuirrelMort is still the ship we never wanted but didn’t know we needed.
1. Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier
Previous ranking: 1
Oh well, some things never change. Starkid’s Disney and Wicked parody to this day remains my absolute fave. Twisted is just like Wicked, except instead of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, its villain of choice is Aladdin’s Jafar.
Twisted’s success is in its creation of Jafar’s backstory, which doubled as commentary on systemic injustice and the state of politics as a whole. It also has brilliant allusions to the influence of framing on public perception, elaborated in its eponymous song Twisted, in which Jafar is joined by other “villains” of the Disney canon (to quote Ursula, “there are two sides to every story”).
AJ Holmes and Kaley McMahon set out to write the most Disney-esque musical parody ever, and they succeeded. The show starts off with a song a la Beauty and the Beast’s “Belle”, immediately setting up Jafar as a misunderstood figure. Jasmine gets a tongue-in-cheek I Want song with “Everything and More”. “No One Remembers Achmed” is one of the most hilarious songs in the Starkid canon. The credits feature a “pop” version of “A Thousand And One Nights”. I just. So many bops in this show.
Twisted is also wonderfully meta. It calls out the tropes which have pervaded a lot of Disney stories and at one point, even calls itself out (“Why is everyone in the kingdom white?”). It also manages to include the Disney/Pixar debacle, and it functions well within the story, it’s not just there for shits and giggles.
There are so many reasons Twisted is my favorite Starkid show that have nothing to do with how brilliant it is as a story or as a musical, so let me just list them down. The double meaning behind “follow the golden rule” is so smart that I wish I thought of it. Dylan Saunders’s “If I Believe” is a solo that easily competes any of Darren Criss’s. The Princess’s excellent albeit misguided suggestion which becomes the plot’s resolution is a wonderful study in how we should listen to little kids more often. The ending’s plot twist was great and it made me cry. Watch it. Please watch it.
