Anniversary Rankings: Starkid Productions
15 years of a YouTube theatre phenomenon
This month in 2009, a group of college students at the University of Michigan performed their first musical, A Very Potter Musical, in a tiny black box theatre.
Now, they’ve got thirteen full length original musicals, three musical webseries, and three sketch comedy shows. Individually, they’ve been on Broadway and starred in TV shows like Glee. Together they’ve toured worldwide for their loyal audience of theatre kids.
So, to celebrate, here is my totally-not-biased ranking of each of their 13 original musicals.
Let’s go!
13. Ani: A Parody
I watched this one in its entirety, and it was pretty funny, but the music wasn’t as good as a lot of the other shows. The musical performs more like a play with music.
I will say this though, I do think it’s definitely still worth a watch. The performances and the comedy are great and it’s still a really good time.
12. Me & My Dick
Okay, this one’s a little unfair. I’ve never seen it, just because the premise just doesn’t appeal to me personally. That’s why it’s so far on the list.
Oh, well.
11. Firebringer
I watched the first few scenes of this one before shutting it off. It just feels slower than a lot of the other ones, but I really feel like I didn’t give it a fair shake, especially since it’s got a lot of my favorite Starkids in it. I’ll rewatch it soon.
10. A Very Potter Senior Year
This was nice strong end to the trilogy, a fitting end to the beginning of Starkid. It’s a very good and funny show, but I still feel like the other two were objectively better in a lot of a ways.
A lot of people also think that AVPSY was mostly just an act of fanservice, and that could be true, but the show stands on it’s own two feet and has a lot of touching themes about moving on and growing up.
9. Starship
Starship is a great show, and I feel like it’s one of Starkid’s most underrated.
There are SO many good things about it. The performances were incredibly strong and the puppetry work is absolutely stunning. Like, look at them! They’re adorable! I just love them!
8. A Very Potter Sequel
Okay, I put this one above AVPSY simply because of the stupid Red Vines bit.
That’s all.
7. Nerdy Prudes Must Die!
This one came out last year. I saw the YouTube premiere, and I already have a lot of good memories associated with this show and its music. It’s a great addition to the Hatchetfield series and expands on its universe really well while still keeping the same black humor and general vibe the other two had.
6. Twisted: The Untold Story Of A Royal Vizier
This was the first Starkid show I ever saw. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
Dylan Saunders’ performance as Jafar is so emotional and the themes of privilege, political ignorance, and selfishness in the story are so well-written and well-explored while still being hilarious. In fact, this show might have some of the funniest bits in Starkid history (“everyone’s a princess”, the insane amount of Disney references, “did we get the bread back?”, Achmed just being a character).
5. A Very Potter Musical
An absolute classic, so naturally it had to break the top 5.
There are so many funny bits and great moments in this show that play on the original series. I love Voldemort and Quirrell’s dynamic, “The Scarf of Sexual Preference”, and the bit about The Zac Efron poster horcrux never fails to make me laugh. I also love Lauren Lopez as Draco Malfoy (in this and the other two Potter shows). Never gets old.
4. The Trail To Oregon!
This is my comfort Starkid show. If I’m ever looking to spend a couple hours in YouTube-land, this is where I spend it. This show is so funny while simultaneously being so thematically rich, with great moments that explore family dynamics and taking accountability. The humor is also some of my favorite in any Starkid show, with Jeff Blim’s physical comedy hitting the mark every time and some really great moments and one-liners.
And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love Jack Bauer Dikrats.
3. Black Friday
This is a fantastic show. The music is top-notch, everything is really well-designed, and the show still manages the same brand of Hatchetfield black comedy as its predecessor, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. but the real draw of the show is the characters, from the tragically conflicted and well-written leads like Lex, Hannah, Tom, and Becky to the hilarious psychos like Linda Monroe and Wiggly himself.
I was watching a 15th anniversary YouTube stream where Nick Lang and some of the other Starkids were talking about each of the shows, and one of the things Nick Lang said about Black Friday was that when he finally realized that not every scene and character had to be funny that he really felt like he opened a door to a whole new era of Starkid.
2. Holy Musical B@man!
This is some of the best of classic Starkid. The 80s synth-pop score actually rocks, and Joseph Walker as a whining, emo Batman is HILARIOUS. I love him and Robin (Nick Lang) together, Brian Holden as Superman, and Jeff Blim’s crazy psychoticness and endless candy puns as Sweeth Tooth. The comedy hits the spot not only in the writing but in the costume design too.
Sometimes you just need a wholesome show about friendship.
1. Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals
This holds top spot on my totally-not-biased list simply because I feel like it’s Starkid in a nutshell. The music is incredible and the premise is hilariously meta. It was the first installment of the horror-comedy Hatchetfield series, which ushered in a whole new era of original content that broke Starkid’s typical mold of parody musicals and set the precedent for their future work.
It also introduced some iconic original Starkid characters, like Paul, Emma, Professor Hidgens, and General McNamara.
Happy 15th Birthday, Starkid!
If you’re a theatre fan and haven’t checked out these guys yet, feel free to watch their projects here.