#clark baxtresser singing i was and back on top....

[clarkbaxtresser]

watching starkid innit videos and getting soooooo emo ohmygod

[oliversbloggingworld]

i saw clark baxtresser sing back on top. what. whaaaaaatttt.

[jackie-talks-about-starkid]

ANI: A Parody (Rewatch #8, 10/27/2020)

YouTube publish date: October 31, 2014

Number of views on date of rewatch: 990,767

Original Performance Run: July 3 - August 10, 2014 at Stage 773, Chicago (part of their Summer Season program)

Ticket price: options available for Ani, The Trail to Oregon, or both shows      Individual: $35      Both shows/Season Pass: $65

Director: Matt Lang

Music and Lyrics: TalkFine

Book: Matt and Nick Lang

Cast album price and availability: $7.92 on iTunes      Release date: October 31, 2014

Parody or original: parody of Star Wars, heavily influenced by the prequels with references to the Dark Horse Star Wars comics and formerly-canon Star Wars novels

Main cast and characters

Ani - Chris Allen

Tarkin - Joseph Walker

Mara - Denise Donovan

J.J. - Brian Holden

Emily - Julia Albain

Sebulba - Eric Kahn Gale

Bob/Veers - Joe Moses

Oola - Meredith Stepien

Pappy/Obi-Wan - Nick Lang

Band and Vocals

Keyboard 1, Vocals - Clark Baxtresser

Keyboard 2, Vocals - Pierce Siebers

Keyboard 3, Back. Vocals - Max Evrard

Guitar - Corey Richardson

Bass - Mason Cormie

Drums - Nick Kabat

Percussion, Back. Vocals - Meredith Stepien

Musical Numbers:

*all vocals provided by the band

     Act I

“Ani”

“Long Ago and Far Away” 

“Strike Back” 

“With My Own Eyes” 

     Act II

“The Force (You Got It)” 

“Haunted by the Kiss” 

“One in a Million” 

“Back on Top” 

Notable Notes:

Performed two years after the acquisition of Star Wars by the Walt Disney Company, and before the subsequent Star Wars sequel films, as well as Disney’s decision to make any non-movie material produced before their acquisition (ex. Novels and comics) non-canon

Not a fun fact, but I highly recommend watching this short video essay by Silvana Ltd. discussing whether or not Ani can be considered a musical (x)

According to Nick Lang, the numbers were performed primarily by the band and are interspersed with dialogue because he wanted Ani to “feel like a Rocky movie” and give the feeling that the band was “like a Greek chorus” (x)

Cultural Context: 2014

Ellen DeGeneres take arguably the most popular selfie in existence at the 2014 Oscars

Disney’s Frozen is released in theaters

The series finale for How I Met Your Mother airs

Scotland decides to stay in the UK

Robin Williams passed away August 11, 2014

Content Analysis:

ANI: A Parody is StarKid’s least popular musical because of two reasons: the niche subject matter and the fact that people cannot decide whether or not Ani is actually considered to be a musical. This is a matter of personal opinion depending on the audience member watching it, but from a theatrical standpoint, Ani heavily leans more toward being a musical than not being a musical, despite the fact that the characters in the show do not actually sing the songs. Rather, the songs are sung for them by the band and the characters perform them through dancing or act through the songs by interspersing sung lyrics with dialogue and action. The definition of musicals and musical theatre is very loose. Musical theatre has technically existed for as long as song - even in ancient times, songs for ritual purposes were performed in a distinctively theatrical way, such as being performed with costumes and makeup and telling a story solely through song. In more recent history, vaudeville can be considered by most theatrical scholars as being a form of musical theatre because it uses song as the main source of entertainment for an audience in a very specific setting of a theatre, regardless of whether or not it physically takes place in a theatre with what we consider to be traditional architecture such as a raised stage and a strong distinction between an audience seating area and a performance area. However, many people use the terms ‘musical’ and ‘musical theatre’ interchangeably, thinking that they are one and the same when the working reality of the fact is that the two are different. Sort of like how every square is a rectangle but not every rectangle is a square, every musical is musical theatre but not every work of musical theatre is a musical. 

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s discuss the origins of what the modern-day idea of a musical is: a story that is told and advanced through song. This is often referred to as a “book musical” in that a plot, or “book”, is being performed for an audience while songs are a separate element of the performance that are used to continue the story. This is also referred to as an “integration musical” in that songs are integrated into the action of the story to make a complete performance. The idea of a book musical is a relatively new one when looking at musicals in relation to all of theatre history. Whereas theatre has existed as long as historical documentation has existed, and most likely before than, the book musical or the modern-day musical is often attributed to becoming a solidified Thing™ in 1943 with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! In Oklahoma! and every subsequent mainstream musical, a story is presented in which a character or group of characters go through various experiences and eventually reach some kind of entertaining conclusion while using song, and often dance, to continue the action of the plot. That is a very simple way of defining modern-day musicals but is a definition of a musical nonetheless, which is why I consider Ani to not only be a musical, but an experimental one at that.

As stated, the characters of Ani do not sing the songs at all. The only time they interact with the songs being performed by the band are when the character or characters dance to the song or have their actions narrated by the song being sung. However, even though the characters do not actually sing the songs themselves, the songs that they interact with, which are entirely non-diegetic, are still used to advance the plot or deepen a character’s development, which is the ultimate goal of any musical. So, yes, Ani is a musical but it is a very non-conventional musical that I believe the media will be experiencing more of in the near future. One of the reasons musical were so commercially popular in the Golden Age, and even today with Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, is because the musical recording for the productions were made available for the public to purchase and listen to on their own time when they could not afford to go see a physical musical production of Broadway or go see a musical film in a movie theater. The beauty of Ani as a modern-day musical and a piece of musical theatre in general is that, unlike most musicals where only one or two songs can be separated from the plot and reach commercial success outside of the theatre community, is that Ani’s songs advance the plot of the musical perfectly while also being well-written and enjoyable standalone songs. 

Any Star Wars fan who is familiar with the lore of the universe can listen to the recording of ANI: A Parody and enjoy the music to the fullest extent of being a fan through the references and the general energetic composition of the songs alone. Really, despite Ani not being a traditional commercial piece of theatre on Broadway, it is a money-maker’s dream production on top of being just a great, well-rounded production in general. The songs can be taken out of context of the musical and still be enjoyed by anyone with a fan connection to Star Wars, while holding even more meaning for those who enjoy Star Wars and have also seen the production on YouTube (which is yet another reason for encouraging greater access to theatre by using the internet and  other multimedia platforms that lessen the need for large ticket and travel expenses). Similarly to the popularity of non-musical movies and their successful chart-topping soundtrack counterparts à la Dirty Dancing and Guardians of the Galaxy, musicals with the Ani format have a great future for both commercial and fandom success in the theatre community and the media industry at large. ANI: A Parody is a musical in the traditional sense and a piece of musical theatre that could potentially hold the key to theatrical accessibility worldwide due to its creative and inventive format.