Even though this guy didn't, I liked this musical

By: Cory R.

StarKid Productions newest horror-comedy, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, has garnered a million views on YouTube, which was uploaded in December of 2018. But is it worth the watch? Yes, the musical may be a little mature but it’s hilarious and entertaining.

The musical ran in Los Angeles, California, throughout the month of October, and was recorded for the YouTube release. The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals is StarKid’s 11th stage production with them also producing The Trail To Oregon!, Firebringer, Twisted, and a Harry Potter musical series. The musical was directed by Nick Lang and was written by Nick and Matt Lang. With Jon Matteson playing the main character named Paul, played by Jon Matteson, if it wasn’t clear from the title, he doesn’t like musicals. Most of the other cast members have appeared in StarKid’s productions but this was Matteson’s first production with them. This was also the StarKid debut of Mariah Rose Faith, who plays multiple characters. Lauren Lopez who plays Emma, Paul’s love interest, Lopez appeared in Firebringer, The Trail to Oregon!, And Twisted. Jeff Blim wrote all the songs for the musical, making the soundtrack just a new kind of wonderful. Jeff is also in the musical as multiple characters, he also wrote The Trail to Oregon!.

StarKid raised $127,792 with 3,419 people donating. The musical is a great watch and should really be watched. But people should know there is some mature language in it. Which shouldn’t turn you away because it's still a good story and a good musical in general. In all, the musical is just a comedy masterpiece with the timing being just perfect, and quite a lot of people say timing is everything. The choreography is also just, something else, the commitment the cast puts into dancing is phenomenal and it really does add something new to the production.

The best dancer and male singer has to be Robert Manion, who plays Emma’s professor, Professor Hidgens, who has been preparing for the apocalypse. Robert is the main dancer and singer in “Show Stoppin’ Number” which is one of the best-choreographed songs in the musical. Although Jon doesn’t sing or dance much, as he plays Paul, the guy who just doesn’t like musicals, he still gets his moment to shine in “Let It Out” and “Inevitable” which are probably two of the best songs on the soundtrack. Now Jon and Robert are good but the best comedy actor is Joey Richter, who plays Ted, one of Paul’s co-workers. Just his personality mixed with the situation they’re all put in makes some of the funniest scenes in the musical. The scene before “America Is Great Again” is one of the funniest just because of Ted. The cast is just phenomenal, especially since they all play multiple characters except Paul. Even the female lead, Lauren Lopez, plays multiple characters.

The musical is really worth the watch if you’re into musicals and comedy. Most people would think that this little theater troupe couldn’t produce anything as good as this, but all of there musicals are honestly good. StarKid is easily one of the best theater companies, especially with their writing team and original productions.

1. Where did the idea of TGWDLM come from?

In college we came up with the title & basic idea (a guy who doesn’t like musicals suddenly realizes his life is turning into one). We put the idea on the shelf for a long time, until we came up with the notion that it was going to be an alien invasion as well. That’s what caught our interest and made the whole thing click together. My brother & I love horror movies, so we wanted to do something more in that vein. This show is heavily influenced by ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’

2. How long were you working on the musical until the actual start of live shows?

This one came together rather quickly. As I said, the idea is over a decade old, but Matt and I only came up with the alien invasion angle early last year. We were actually planning on doing a different show in 2018, but two or three weeks before we launched our Kickstarter, we hit on the idea for TGWDLM and decided it would work out a little better for us. In all, I’d say we started working on it seriously last May (so about five months before we opened).

3. How much did you enjoy working on the musical compared to the others you have worked on?

I enjoyed this musical very much. Matt and I love writing with Jeff. I had a great time with the cast and crew. We did the show fairly quickly, so the time crunch brought a small element of stress, but other than that it was a very smooth process. It was definitely one of my favorites.

4. Is there any talk of the next StarKid production and when it will be coming out? (I know musicals take rehearsals and stuff, because I'm actually in the middle of Seussical right now and we've been working on it for 3 months.)

Yes, we already know what/when/where the next StarKid show will be. It’s been written for a few months now. In fact, 2019 is our ten year anniversary, so we’ve got a few things coming up. We’ll make an announcement about all of that next month. Then Matt and I are also already working on a few new musicals for next year and beyond. Lots of stuff in the works.

5. Why should people watch TGWDLM in your opinion?

I think it’s a fun time. Hopefully people will enjoy it.

6. This was Jon Matteson's first StarKid show, and he was the lead role. Should we be expecting him in future productions?

Yes. Jon is a great talent and a pleasure to work with.

7. Was there any difficulty in producing the show?

As I said before, mainly the time crunch. This show had a lot of dancing (more choreographed numbers than any StarKid show) and a ton of lighting & sound cues. I think we could have had another week for tech and that would’ve been great, but I think everything turned out well.

8. Did Jeff Blim have any part in writing his songs for TGWDLM? (Because he had some great songs, just saying)

Jeff wrote all the songs for TGWDLM. The cast joked that he just wrote all the songs for himself, but that wasn’t the intention. Jeff just so happened to play a lot of the singing/alien characters. It’s an interesting musical in that the main characters don’t sing (until they die).

9. Was there any scenes that got cut? And if so why did they get cut?

We cut a few things, mainly for time. We wanted the show to be under two hours. Aside from trimming down scenes that are in there, we cut a song that a news reporter sang.

10. So you have acted on occasion, are you thinking about acting in some of the upcoming productions?

For now I’m just focusing on writing and directing. That keeps me pretty busy. I’m also not a very good singer, so I try to avoid being in musicals if I can.