StarKid Productions, also known as Team StarKid, is an American
musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
company founded in 2009 at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
by
Darren Criss
Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series '' Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...
, Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang. Originally known for the viral success of their first musical, ''
A Very Potter Musical
''A Very Potter Musical'' (originally titled ''Harry Potter: The Musical'' and often shortened to ''AVPM'') is a musical with music and lyrics by Darren Criss and A. J. Holmes and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden.Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...
'' 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
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, with recent projects being funded by
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
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, three
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...
shows, and three web series.
As of 2020, the company has charted 12 albums on the Billboard charts. 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
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
''. The following year they landed at number one on the same chart with the cast recording of ''
Starship
A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between planetary systems.
The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1882 in '' Oahspe: A Ne ...
'', a feat that has since been repeated with their 2019 musical '' Black Friday''.
History
StarKid Productions is composed of actors, writers, directors, composers, choreographers, and designers, most of them originating from the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
'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
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...
'' series entitled ''
A Very Potter Musical
''A Very Potter Musical'' (originally titled ''Harry Potter: The Musical'' and often shortened to ''AVPM'') is a musical with music and lyrics by Darren Criss and A. J. Holmes and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden.viral on the Internet, garnering StarKid a worldwide fanbase. Inspired by the viral nature of the video, StarKid Productions was formed, named after a quote from ''
A Very Potter Musical
''A Very Potter Musical'' (originally titled ''Harry Potter: The Musical'' and often shortened to ''AVPM'') is a musical with music and lyrics by Darren Criss and A. J. Holmes and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden.A Very Potter Sequel
''A Very Potter Sequel'' (often shortened to ''AVPS'') is a musical with music and lyrics by Darren Criss and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang, and Brian Holden.
'' in 2010 and ''
A Very Potter Senior Year
''A Very Potter Senior Year'' (often shortened to ''AVPSY'') is a musical written by Matt Lang, Nick Lang, and Brian Holden with songs by Clark Baxtresser, Pierce Siebers, A. J. Holmes, and additional songs by Darren Criss. It is the conclusion ...
'' in 2012.
The Team StarKid YouTube channel was established on June 19, 2009. The channel currently has over 750,000 subscribers and over 310,000,000 combined views. Aside from the viral ''
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...
'' adaptions, Team StarKid have produced a number of other musical theatre parody shows, creating both original stories and pop culture-based parodies of
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
,
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...
,
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
'', ''and The Oregon Trail''.
Team Starkid has had two major moves since its founding in 2009. The first was to Chicago after the founders graduated from
The University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. Several shows were performed in Chicago before most of the company's members moved once again, this time to Los Angeles.
Musical theatre productions
Team 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. 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.
Concerts and tours
*'' The SPACE Tour (2011)'' — North American concert tour with 21 stops in 15 cities. "SPACE" in the tour title stands for StarKid Precarious Auditory Concert Experience.
*'' Apocalyptour (2012)'' — North American concert tour with 24 stops in 21 cities. The tour title is a reference to the
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count cal ...
.
*''A Very StarKid Reunion (2015)'' — Reunion concert performed in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance.
*''StarKid Homecoming (2019)'' — Reunion concert held at the Theater at the Ace on July 25–26, 2019.
*''The Jangle Ball Tour (2022)'' — North American concert tour with 8 stops in 7 cities from December 2 to December 17, 2022.
Sketch comedy productions
*''Airport for Birds'': January–March 2013, Chicago, IL. StarKid Productions teamed up with
The Second City
The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...
to produce their first sketch comedy show. The show was produced at the UP Comedy Club.
*''1Night 2Last 3Ever'': September–November 2013, Chicago, IL. StarKid Productions second sketch comedy show with The Second City. The show was produced at the UP Comedy Club. The show was a parody of various pieces of 1990s pop culture centering on the exploits of a fictional boy band, 3Ever.
*''Yes, I am Afraid of the Dark!'': September–October 2015, Chicago, IL. StarKid Productions first improv comedy show with iO Chicago and was produced at the iO Theater. The show was a parody of the 1990s children show ''
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is a horror anthology television series. The original series aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1996; the pilot episode aired respectively on YTV and Nickelodeon in 1990 and 1991. It led to two revival series, wi ...
'' with the cast creating an entire episode based on audience suggestion.
Web series
''Little White Lie''
In 2007, members including Matt Lang, Nick Lang, Eric Kahn Gale, Brian Holden,
Darren Criss
Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series '' Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...
, Lauren Lopez, Elona 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. 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
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to ...
page.
''Movies, Musicals, and Me''
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 mocumentary 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.
''Nightmare Time''
On October 1, 2020, StarKid announced a new three-episode horror
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
set in the world of ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'' and ''Black Friday''. It featured six stories read by the cast of the shows. Performances took place virtually on October 10, 17, and 24, 2020. In August 2021 a second season was announced. A cast recording was released on February 8, 2021.
The next year, StarKid later livestreamed ''Nightmare Time 2'', the second season of the series. Four performances took place virtually on October 23 & 30 and November 6 & 13, 2021. The entire cast from the first season returned with the exceptions of Robert Manion & Kendall Nicole Yakshe. The series was also the StarKid debut of Bryce Charles and Jae Hughes. The episodes were released weekly on StarKid's YouTube channel between May 20, 2022 and June 10, 2022.