Think you know everything about Team StarKid? Take a peek at some of the fun facts we learned during our backstage tour this summer at Stage 773!
Though the StarKid Summer Season 2014 has officially ended, we’ve still got a few more things we’d like to share with you! While on our backstage tour on Saturday, July 19, we learned quite a few fun Team StarKid tidbits that we think you’d really enjoy.
So, without further ado, here are a few things that our tour guide, the one and only Brian Holden, told us during our backstage tour!
1. Stage 773 flooded right before the season opening
You may or may not have seen a few desperate tweets on Team StarKid’s Twitter account right before they kicked off their summer season, but there were quite a few nasty storms in Chicago in late June/early July. The storms were so bad that parts of Stage 773 had flooded! The theater in Stage 773 where a few StarKid members had put on The Last Days of Judas Iscariot last summer was completely under water. Walking into that space meant wading into a sizeable amount of water.
Luckily, this year’s space wasn’t nearly as damaged by water. They did have water running down the back wall backstage and the floors out in the audience were soaked, they could handle it. They simply moved everything away from the walls and other possible flooding areas and tried to wipe and soak up the rain as best they could. Fortunately, they were able to get everything cleaned up and ready to go before the opening.
Via Tumblr
2. ‘Holy Musical B@man’ and ‘Starship’ were performed on the same stage
How’s that for a bit of a mind bender? In our opinion, the stage for Starship looks bigger than the one for Holy Musical B@man (although, that could be because this writer saw the latter live in person and saw exactly how tiny that theater space actually was).
Via Tumblr
3. Actors could only enter from stage right during ‘Twisted’
Yep, you read that right. The stage in the Greenhouse Theater was so small that actors were forced to come on stage from only one side of the stage. Since the stage couldn’t support more than the actors themselves, the band was situated upstage behind the curtain in the back. If you look closely, you can see their silhouettes in a few scenes. Anyway, since the band was back there, they blocked any actors from getting to the other side of the stage from the backstage area. So, everyone entered and exited stage right.
“But Aladdin and Jasmine used stage left in the musical! I saw them!” you may argue. This is true, but only half so. See, when they would exit stage left, they’d merely just sit behind the painted set decoration over there until it was time for their next entrance. Then, they’d walk onstage like they never went offstage! The next time you watch Twisted, pay close attention to the cast’s movements! Or, just look at the gif below!
Via GIFSoup
4. Team StarKid uses the same materials for practically everything that they build
From set backgrounds and decorations like the ones seen in The Trail to Oregon to the 2D bugs in Starship and the menacing swords in Twisted, there’s always a specific material that Team StarKid turns to whenever there’s anything they need to build. If we’re not mistaken, it’s some sort of Pink Panther (yes, like the cartoon) insulation foam. By this point, they know how to build with it, paint it, and even handle it. Which brings us to our next point…
Via Tumblr
5. Switching between sets during the StarKid Summer Season took a bit more planning than originally thought
You see, the material that the StarKid troupe uses for their sets and such is slightly single-sided in that one side has a Pink Panther design. They had originally planned to use both sides of the foam boards and just turn them around to the corresponding side for each show. However, they realized that no amount of paint or artwork would mask the Pink Panther design on the one side. So, unless they wanted to incorporate the Pink Panther into one of the shows, they had to come up with another solution.
Instead of building two completely separate sets of backgrounds/set pieces and having to completely take one down to put another up, they simply and painted the Ani: A Parody set artwork on sheets that they hung on top of the Trail to Oregon sets.
Via Tumblr
Continued on page 2: More StarKid fun facts about Pincer, Joey’s door, and more!
6. Joe Walker breaks everything
Not all that hard to believe, right? Especially since StarKid uses affordable and not life-proof equipment. According to Brian Holden, Joe broke a sword during almost every performance of Twisted. He just gets so into what he’s doing that he must forget how fragile the props actually are. To be fair, we’d probably do the same and break a few swords of our own if we were in his position. He’s allowed and encouraged to play with swords.
Via Tumblr
7. StarKid cast members keep all of their personal props and accessories in personal cubbies in their dressing room
According to Brian Holden, this was their first time trying out the cubby system. During previous shows, accessories and props used to be strewn across their dressing room and backstage area. This summer, they instead chose plastic crates (like the ones you’d use in your room or bring to college) and lined them all up on the shelf above their costume rack. Each cubby crate had a StarKid member’s name on it so it was easy to tell whose was whose. Of course, the members also wrote nicknames on each others’ crates (naturally names relating to poop and silly stuff).
Via Tumblr
8. The Pincer puppet had a hard time getting onstage
The Pincer puppet in Starship couldn’t really fit through a door easily so it took some maneuvering to get the entire thing on stage. As the puppeteers would walk onstage with the giant puppet, they’d have to bend down pretty far and practically crawl to get Pincer through the door. We would’ve loved to have seen that!
Via Tumblr
9. The door they always use onstage is affectionately referred to as ‘Joey’s door’
How cute is that? They actually call it “Joey’s door” and in a really natural way! Like, Brian never referred to it that way in a mocking tone. The door is on wheels, which makes it easy for travel and, we’d imagine, bringing it into storage. The door is also actually pretty light! It’s made of a very lightweight wood, which makes it a bit hard to slam. Or, at least, that’s what it felt like to us when we were invited to make a fun entrance through it. This writer was the first one of the day to walk through it. It was SUPER cool.
Via Tumblr
10. (New) Converse are a very StarKid thing
You may have noticed (and fallen in love with) the fact that Team StarKid favors Converse shoes. Holy Musical B@man, The Apocalyptour, Ani: A Parody… All of these productions feature StarKids in Converse. Why? The troupe started using Converse because they’re easy to walk and dance in. Their other option was going barefoot, which is pretty unprofessional.
When we asked Brian Holden if they have to continually buy new Converse or if they reuse the same ones among different cast members, his answer kind of surprised us. He had never really considered reusing them before! He told us that Nick just tells the cast to keep their shoes because it’s less stuff that they have to find storage for. Plus, the Holy Musical B@man ones were just so unique. However, he said that he’d definitely like to reuse shoes in the future (and thanked us for the question).
Via Tumblr
11. Brian Holden is a pretty amazing guy
Ok, so this isn’t necessarily a new fun fact. It’s not even a little known fact. But it’s a fact that we nonetheless felt compelled to share after going through the backstage tour. Not to belittle the work of any other StarKid (because they all work their asses off), but just taking a tour with Brian Holden really hit it home for us in terms of everything that he does.
- He took us on this tour a little while before he had to start getting ready for his first of two shows for the night.
- He had insightful and in-depth answers to every single question that we had, demonstrating his involvement in practically every aspect of Starkid.
- He showed a lot of excitement when he brought us up to the booth to see the livestream equipment that he was working with for the shows.
- He coordinated (as well as participated in and attended) a lot of the late night programming.
Though we should have noticed a long time ago, we never really realized how much Brian (or any of the Starkids) really do. Brian Holden for StarKid Summer Season MVP, ya’ll.
Via Tumblr