Hypable talks with Team StarKid members Brian Holden, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Clark Baxtresser and Jeff Blim in an exclusive interview about StarKid Takes Manhattan and the group’s summer season.
Team StarKid brought their special brand of fandom pandemonium to New York City’s Irving Plaza this weekend for StarKid Takes Manhattan, a one-day-only, two-show engagement commemorating the fifth anniversary of A Very Potter Musical.
After the matinee performance, we went behind the scenes at StarKid Takes Manhattan to chat with some of Team StarKid about the experience of putting together this unique concert event, and about Ani and The Trail to Oregon!, the two brand-new musicals that the group will be launching this summer.
For this exclusive interview, we were joined StarKid co-founder Brian Holden, original AVPM cast member Jaime Lyn Beatty, StarKid composer and live musical director Clark Baxtresser – who also opened the show with his pop band TalkFine – and newer cast member Jeff Blim, who took on principal roles in 2012’s Holy Musical B@man! and 2013’s Twisted.
Hypable: So that was StarKid Takes Manhattan, part one – how are you all doing right now?
Brian Holden: Pretty good. Feeling pretty good.
Jaime Lyn Beatty: Sad!
Brian: Why do you feel sad?
Jaime, you cried when we spoke about A Very Potter Senior Year, and you cried again during today’s show!
Jaime: I always cry. I just get emotional about anniversaries.
Because this is the fifth anniversary of A Very Potter Musical’s live performance! But you didn’t know that when you booked this show.
Brian: We really didn’t. Nick and I were trying to come up with a name for the show and we just said “StarKid Takes Manhattan, that’s fine,” and we were going to originally come out dressed in, like, classic New York garb. Like gangster stuff or Newsies stuff or Ninja Turtle stuff or Godzilla or something – actually Ghostbusters would have been another good one – but then a week later we were trying to think of different ways to make this appeal to people. And we realized, “That is almost exactly on the five year anniversary of A Very Potter Musical.” And then we started looking through old notebooks and found some cool stuff, so we thought that was a good idea.
It’s a very good idea; I just find it hilarious that it was not actually the original plan.
Brian: I know! It’s just a coincidence!
Jaime: Nothing we ever do is intentional.
You didn’t have much rehearsal for this show, at least with the whole team, but was probably the most cohesive concert that I’ve ever seen StarKid do. Obviously the tours are very rehearsed, you do them over and over again, but they’re more staged, they’re more scripted. This, as a concert, was almost seamless, and I think that’s a credit to the fact that you guys have all worked together for so long. Is that something you’ve found easy to just kind of jump into? How much of the choreography and movement and harmonies are something you plan out and need to rehearse at this point?
Clark Baxtresser: I wouldn’t say it’s easy. We did have to work pretty hard at a lot of the harmonies and the choreography, but we were starting from a place where a lot of people knew what they were doing, what they’ve done in the past. So it wasn’t completely square one. But we did have Jeff and Rachael who haven’t done a tour before, and that was really amazing to see how they were able to catch on to the material in a week. That’s a lot of songs.
Jaime: That was impressive.
Aside from the songs that were obviously sung by a new lead vocalist, were any of the arrangements brand new for this?
Clark: A little bit.
Brian: “Those Voices” changed a little bit.
Clark: Yeah, a new key for “Those Voices.” “Hey Dragon” had some extra harmonies, and the transitions for that first group of songs, that went boom-boom-boom, that was kind of a challenge. But because it was an anniversary, I felt like I wanted to be kind of faithful to the original material.
Jeff Blim: I feel bad that I suggested that “Everything Ends” should be cut in half, because no, that could have gone for another round.
Clark: You felt like that?
Jeff: Yeah!
Jaime: Yeah… I could have cried a little bit more.
Brian: I felt it ended at a good place.
Have you performed that song since A Very Potter Senior Year?
Brian: I think that we did it at the LeakyCon after Senior Year. LeakyCon 2013.
Clark: We did that because we did all the Harry Potter songs in order, so that was the last song we did and that’s a tough song to end a concert on.
That’s rough.
Jaime: It’s very downer.
Clark: So we thought, “Maybe we shouldn’t end on that.”
Brian: We did want to have it in the show because it is a beautiful song, but it’s weird to put it anywhere other than the end. But it’s also a bad song to end on!
Was that format something you aimed for when you were putting this show together – to have it in a chronological, storytelling way once you planned to celebrate the anniversary?
Brian: I definitely wanted to begin the show with getting an idea of the history of StarKid. That was kind of the idea – I wanted someone who was coming to the show for the first time, who maybe didn’t know anything about StarKid, to get some idea of what the group is like and what we’ve done. That’s why there is a song from every show right at the top, in the first 20 minutes. But it’s hard to really explain StarKid in this amount of time, especially because, you know, it’s a concert; we’re trying to do as many songs as we can and not slow it down with a bunch of talking points.
Jaime: It’s weird because it’s, like, songs about Harry Potter, and then songs about penises… My family, I’m sure, was confused.
Jeff, was this your first proper concert?
Jeff: “Proper,” probably. I did this DigiFest a while back, but that was like a warm-up for this.
Brian: That was terrible!
Clark: That was the worst.
Brian: That was literally StarKid’s lowest moment. DigiFest was in December in Los Angeles and we were literally booed off the stage.
What?!
Jaime: Yeah.
Clark: Yeah, we can go on record and say it was the lowest.
Jeff: I was totally oblivious to it.
Brian: We only did five songs and we were booed off stage.
So this experience was a little bit better!
Jeff: Oh yeah. It got the better of me onstage. I kept being like, “This. Is. AWESOME!” and had to kind of, like, tone it down.
Are you still surprised that the concept of a concert works for you guys? Obviously you never planned concerts originally because you never planned any of this originally, but are you used to doing them now, or is it still something that’s like, “This is weird,” until it happens?
Brian: Oh, it’s always weird.
Jaime: It’s always weird. It’s especially weird whenever you see the guys who work at these venues, listening to our soundcheck and they’re like, “They’re singing about Harry Potter…” It’s always a little bit embarrassing and humbling!
Jeff: I also think it’s weird to sing these songs totally out of context, so then you start singing a rock version of these songs – I feel disingenuous, a little bit, because I’m just putting on a rock show, I’m not telling a story right now.
Jaime: You’re singing passionately about Voldemort!
Jeff: I’m seeing what kind of crazy faces I can make. It’s like… it’s destroying me as an actor, but it’s so much fun!
What’s your favorite song from the concert arrangements, the one that works best as a standalone?
Brian: Favorite standalone song? I love “The Rogues Medley.” I don’t think it makes sense, but…
Clark: I think “Super Friends.”
Jaime: “Super Friends,” yeah.
Clark: I think it’s a big collective favorite, cause it just rocks and it has so many great sections and it’s singing about being friends…
Jeff: I think they all pretty much work. Which one would not work?
If you were a rock star and had a band, which one would you be, like, “Yeah, putting this in my setlist!”?
Brian: I would definitely put in “The Rogues Medley”… that’s kind of the only one I could think of.
Clark: I think “Not Alone” is a standalone.
Brian: Yeah, that makes sense, and also “Sidekick” but that wasn’t in this show.
You had Twisted in the summer, but this concert feels like the first time you’ve done something for the public in quite a long time. Does it feel like it’s been a while for you guys?
Brian: To some extent. We did Twisted and then we did 1Night 2Last 3Ever in the fall, and then some of us went to Germany for RingCon, so it seems like every couple of months there’s something happening. And from our perspective, Nick and Matt – and Jeff, oh my God, Jeff is working on Oregon Trail non-stop. So I think from Jeff’s perspective it probably doesn’t feel like we’ve been MIA! He works on that play day and night.
Clark: He’s thinking about it right now.
Jeff: It’s still waiting for me when I get back.
Brian: But it has been a little while, and then it’ll be a couple more months til the summer.
Jaime: It’s cool because tonight, just seeing all the fans in the audience, and for some reason this one thing keeps sticking out – in the VIP Meet and Greet there was a girl who came up to me and she was like, “When I first saw you guys I was 15 and now I’m 20.” And that – I get what five years is mathematically, but for some reason…
Jeff: That’s a crazy five years.
Jaime: When you’re 15 you’re a very different person than when you’re 20. And that sunk in more than anything before.
I was thinking about that, too, because I saw the first show when it came out online and I was looking around and there are still kids here who are really young – who probably wouldn’t have been fans at that point in 2009. So do you think you’re still gathering at the same rate, with every show?
Brian: I don’t think so, because I don’t think that the buzz is there online about “Oh, this thing just went up!” Also, YouTube is really different than it was back then. It’s like, the only thing that goes on YouTube now – everything’s a viral video for 15 seconds, you know? And there are all those click-bait things. There didn’t use to be websites that would promote YouTube videos like there are now, like Buzzfeed and Upworthy and all those dumb things. So we sort of got that underground buzz. But now I think that there’s just so much stuff on YouTube that – I don’t think anyone has the attention span on YouTube to watch a show.
In that case, are you surprised by the amount of people that are still sticking with you?
Brian: A little bit, yeah! I mean a lot of people who were here said they were here for the first time, that this was their first StarKid show. So that was interesting. I guess I am a little bit surprised.
Header photo credit: holymusicalbatman.tumblr.com
Moving forward from StarKid Takes Manhattan, the group will premiere two brand-new musicals in July as part of their Chicago summer season. We spoke with Team StarKid about what fans can expect to see from Ani and The Trail to Oregon! this summer.
You’ve announced two shows that will be taking place this summer. You’ve got Ani, which is the Star Wars parody. The logo looks like the Broadway Annie font, so I didn’t know if this was going to be another Twisted crossover situation…
Brian: It’s not very much like Annie the musical.
Jeff: I don’t think Nick or Matt have much of an affinity for Annie.
No, I can’t really imagine that either!
Jeff: So I wouldn’t bank on that.
So we have that, and then we have The Trail to Oregon! – which you, Jeff, have written.
Jeff: I’ve written the book with Matt and Nick and I’m doing the music.
And Clark, you’re doing the music for Ani.
Clark: Me and Pierce [Siebers], TalkFine.
Brian: Do you want us to bill you as “music by TalkFine?” Like “music by Daft Punk?”
Clark: I think that’s the idea. Like “music by Daft Punk.”
Jaime: You want us to bill you as Daft Punk?
Clark: That might make us a viral hit… Or like Queen did the music for The Flash series. So, that’s the idea.
Are the shows going to run consecutively – at the same time, same crew of people?
Brian: Not in the same moment, but within a week you’ll be able to see both shows.
So it’s going to be in the same space with one night this, one night that?
Brian: Yes. Same space. let’s say Thursday would be Oregon, Friday would be Star Wars, Saturday they would both go.
Is that a big challenge then, to be organising all of that at the same time?
Brian: Yes. I don’t think that we appreciate how big of a challenge it’s going to be yet. I think that we are dumb and we have not come to respect how tough that’s going to be.
Jaime: We could do them simultaneously on the same stage and people can shift their focus.
Brian: One cast is made of Light Matter another cast is made of Dark Matter.
So there’s rotation within the cast then? You have people who are going to be in both shows in the same period?
Brian: Yeah.
Are you guys all in the cast?
Brian: We had auditions last week actually, while everyone was in town in Chicago before we left. So we don’t have any knowledge about it yet. Nick and Matt are directing, so no casting decisions yet.
Jaime: Jeff probably knows.
Jeff: I don’t know any answers. I actually don’t know.
“It’s out of my hands!”
Jeff: It’s two-thirds out of my hands.
Brian: With the brothers Lang.
Jeff: With the brothers Lang, yeah.
Clark, you’ve never acted in a show, is it something that you’ll do for Ani?
Clark: I won’t be really acting. I’m just going to be doing the music.
But all of you guys are planning to be involved in some way this summer.
Brian: Yeah, I think we’ll all be. We were auditioning for roles, but we’re pretty sure who’s going to be in it.
The Trail to Oregon! – it’s like the Oregon Trail, the old game.
Jeff: Yeah.
So how long have you been planning this?
Jeff: Uhhh, eight-plus years.
Yeah, I kind of felt like it was a long time coming – anyone who’s doing a play about Oregon Trail is going to have had like, a long attachment to that situation. Is there a basic concept you can kind of tell us?
Jeff: Yes! Well, it started out as a 24 Hour Theatre Project play starring Brian.
Clark: Really?
Brian: Yeah, when I was a freshman.
Jeff: And it’s actually gone into the woods and back – it’s now very similar to the original story, which was involving a kid who typed some favorite characters into the game and got sucked back into the Trail. So it’s about a kid who got sucked back into the Trail, the real Trail, who’s a fan of the game, or not a fan of the game. And then crazy things happen, and it’s pretty ridiculous. It’s gone through several drafts and I’ve submitted it to festivals before but we’ve rebooted it recently and it’s been like the project of my 20s.
Well, congratulations!
Jeff: Thank you! It’s an itch that’s never been scratched.
Then for Ani, are you writing for that, Brian, or is it just the Langs?
Brian: No, it’s just the Langs.
Clark: They’ve pretty much got it written already.
Star Wars is obviously something that has a massive fandom that’s maybe not as typically, say, compassionate as the Harry Potter fandom, it’s more of an exclusive…
Clark: Intense.
Yeah, a different fandom attitude and you have a bit of experience with that from Holy Musical B@man! – do you expect the same kind of thing with Ani? Do you expect to draw in Star Wars fans or do you expect to get backlash?
Brian: I think the thing about this Star Wars play is that I do think that Star Wars fans will love it. I’m not sure how much Nick and Matt want us to say about it…
Clark: I saw some tweets from Nick that I can sort of reiterate.
Jeff: What did he say?
Clark: Well, I think he was responding to people saying, “I want to watch Star Wars so I can understand the show.”
He was conducting the larger argument of what order to watch them in.
Clark: Yeah! And that’s important. He said watch 4-5-6 first which are the original trilogy. Watch that first, so you know what Star Wars is. And then watch 1, 2, and 3 because Ani takes a lot from both the prequels and the original trilogy.
Jeff: It’s like a marriage of the two.
Brian: I think we can say it’s a story that takes place between the original and the prequels.
Are any of you fans of the 451236 order?
Jeff: 451236!?
There’s this fan concept, and this is what the Twitter argument was about – I think it’s more for people who know the movies already – that if you want to watch the prequels, to watch 4 and 5 and you get the father reveal, and then you watch the first three…
Jeff: As like, backstory?
Yeah, as a flashback, and then you go back to the last one.
Jeff: I don’t think that would make me like the prequels any better.
Brian: I agree. I think the whole idea is to try and make you like the prequels better, which is just like…
Hard?
Brian: Yeah, why?
Jeff: So now it’s a bad flashback?
Brian: Yeah, exactly. Don’t ruin Return of the Jedi by making us wait nine hours to watch it.
Jeff: Oh man, yeah. Cause then in 6 when he takes off his helmet you’re like, “You killed a bunch of little kids! I don’t care who you saved — fuck you! You’re also a whiny little bitch!” It’s like, “Throw him over with the Emperor!“
Brian: Yeah, I agree.
Fair enough! Is there anything else you wanted to say to the world/audience/Internet about tonight’s concerts or what you’re doing for the next year?
Brian: I’d say thanks for having us in New York, and come to Chicago! Because besides those two plays we’re also going to have some late-night stuff going on, improv shows, sketch shows, music, stuff like that. We’re trying to make it a fun summer camp feel.
So, come to Chicago for a week and hang out with you at all your different projects.
Brian: Pretty much, yeah! Like if you come for three days, you’ll see at least three different shows, probably.
Good luck with this summer, and with the rest of tonight! Any changes between the matinee and evening?
Brian: No, same show.
Clark: Same show, but better.
Jeff: Half the energy.
Jaime: Half the energy?
N.B. Unsurprisingly, the evening show of StarKid Takes Manhattan ended up containing an equal or greater amount of energy. Read Hypable’s review of the concert here.
Header photo credit: holymusicalbatman.tumblr.com