This article is about the musical. You may be looking for the soundtrack.
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Ani: A Parody is the eighth original online musical from Team StarKid. The show is a parody of the Star Wars franchise, with the title being a reference to the musical Annie. The musical was performed July 3-August 10, 2014, at Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois as part of StarKid's 2014 Summer Season. It was released on YouTube on October 31, 2014.
Summary[]
Ani Skywalker is in the dumps. His wife is dead. He's stuck in a bogus government job he hates. He spends most of his time staring out into space, thinking about the good old days. But things are about to change for Ani as he sets off for adventure in the galaxy's biggest come-back...
Synopsis[]
Act 1[]
A voiceover plays over of an announcer (Brian Holden) narrating the win of Ani at a pod race. An Imperial officer comes in and prompts him, calling him "Lord Vader". Vader turns around and tells the officer to call him "Ani" ("Ani"). The officer asks Ani how he's doing and Ani replies that he was looking out into space, thinking about the good old days. He wistfully adds that the thing about the good old days is that you don't know that you're in them until they're gone. Ani asks why he came around and the officer tells him that he's late for a meeting with other Imperial officers. The Imperial officers, lead by Moff Jeffrey Tarkin discuss their plans for the Death Star.
Ani joins the meeting after Tarkin leaves. He brings up the idea that the Death Star looks like a breast and the officers are shocked. He eventually gets upset and force-chokes them. He leaves the meeting and runs into Tarkin, who he asks to join him in getting coffee. Tarkin gets upset when Ani embarrasses him in front of Emily, the stormtrooper he has a crush on. Ani returns to his room feeling sad and nostalgic about the good old days ("Long Ago and Far Away").
While hanging out in the Sith lounge he meets Mara Jade, the Emperor's new apprentice. He gets upset that even the Emperor is replacing him. He has a conversation with Mara Jade where he eventually reveals that he is the Ani Skywalker who was the first human to win the Boonta Eve pod race. She encourages him to go and race again and he encourages her to pursue her own dream of becoming a slave girl at Jabba's palace. The two leave for Tatooine together.
Tarkin tries to apologise to Emily and finds out that Emperor has arrived. The Emperor is critising the interior design of the Death Star. He expresses his happiness with Tarkin and promises him a promotion, not for his work on the Death Star but as Ani's friend. The Emperor reveals that he was responsible for the Death Star boob idea and gets upset when he finds out the officers rejected it. He force chokes Admiral Motti when the others blame it on him. He reveals that he bought Ani a Star Wars lego set. Tarkin finds out that Ani has left and has to go to Tatooine to get him back.
Ani and Mara arrive Tatooine and Ani shows her around his old home ("Strike Back"). While there, the two meet Boba Fett, who promises to get Mara an audition with Jabba. They then run into Sebulba and his goons. Sebulba taunts Ani, telling that there is no way he will win. Ani then goes to find an old friend.
Jar Jar Binks is in his house, attempting to commit suicide. Ani finds him and stops him. JJ says that he would be better off dead because everyone hates him and thinks he ruined their whole universe. JJ refuse to help Ani and he leaves. Tarkin finds Ani and attempts to convince him to go back to the Death Star. JJ comes back and decides to help Ani. Tarkin changes his mind when he sees how miserable Ani is and agrees to help him ("With My Own Eyes").
Act 2[]
Ani, Tarkin, and Jar Jar begin training for the Boonta Eve ("The Force (You Got It)"). Mara goes to Jabba's palace to audition for the dancing slave girl position but is ridiculed and denied an audition for having no previous experience.
Tarkin takes Emily to the Mos Eisley cantina for drinks. There they meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is shocked to hear that Ani is still alive after he defeated and left him for dead years prior. Tarkin is contacted by Palpatine and he and Emily leave the cantina to take the call. Palpatine has been informed by another general of Ani's goal to race, and demands Tarkin to bring him back to the Death Star. Tarkin dramatically refuses and hangs up. Tarkin and Emily later share a romantic moment after Tarkin charms Emily with romantic lines Ani gave to him ("Haunted By The Kiss"). Meanwhile, Obi-Wan forms an alliance with Sebulba to kill Ani and Jar Jar.
Obi-Wan appears at Jar Jar's residence; he draws a pistol on Jar Jar, robbing him and then shooting him before fleeing. Jar Jar later dies in a hospital with Ani being there for his final moments. Ani decides to give up on racing on the fear he may be targeted next but is convinced otherwise by Tarkin and Mara, who remind Ani of his dream.
On the day of the race, Sebulba sabotages Ani's pod by removing the power coupling. The race commences ("One In A Million"). Ani and Sebulba appear to be evenly matched until Ani's pod runs out of power and Sebulba knocks into him, causing him and his pod to crash into the side. Palpatine confronts Ani at the crash site and apologizes for not understanding Ani's passion in pod-racing. He reactivates Ani's pod with his force lightning, sending Ani back into the race. Ani catches up to Sebulba and punches him in the nose, winning the race shortly after.
Boba Fett, who is Ani's friend, is able to secure Mara an audition for a slave girl position through his connections to Jabba. Ani, Tarkin, and Emily are there to watch Mara's audition ("Back On Top"). She gets the part and the cast celebrates with a reprise of the musical's first song.
Development[]
The show was announced alongside The Trail to Oregon! as part of StarKid's 2014 Summer Season on April 9, 2014 in the season announcement trailer.[1] The show ran for a total of 22 performances, and was performed in repertory with The Trail to Oregon!.
Cast[]
(*) Bold names denote the actor's onstage Starkid debut
Band[]
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Clark Baxtresser | Keyboard 1/Vocals |
| Pierce Siebers | Keyboard 2/Vocals |
| Max Evrard | Keyboard 3/Backing Vocals |
| Corey Richardson | Guitar |
| Mason Cormie | Bass |
| Nick Kabat | Drums |
| Meredith Stepien | Percussion/Backing Vocals |
Creative Team[]
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Nick Lang | Book |
| Assistant Director | |
| Costume Design | |
| Video Editing | |
| Matt Lang | Book |
| Director | |
| Costume Design | |
| Camera Operator | |
| Clark Baxtresser | Music and Lyrics |
| Music Direction | |
| Pierce Siebers | Music and Lyrics |
| Music Direction | |
| Katie Spelman | Choreography |
| Jen Lang | Set Design |
| Teia Smith | |
| Sarah Petty | Lighting Design |
| Production Manager | |
| Mark Swiderski | Sound Design |
| Sound Editor | |
| Ruby Summers | Stage Manager |
| Jess Dumbroff | Assistant Stage Manager |
| Julia Albain | Associate Producer |
| Tony Pisaneschi | Camera Operator |
| Jeff Blim | |
| Joey Richter |
Songs[]
| Act | Song | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | Ani | 2:21 |
| Long Ago and Far Away | 3:49 | |
| Strike Back | 1:57 | |
| With My Own Eyes | 3:04 | |
| Act 2 | The Force (You Got It) | 2:45 |
| Haunted By The Kiss | 3:05 | |
| One In a Million | 2:44 | |
| Back On Top | 2:51 |
Recording[]
A cast recording of the production was released on October 31, 2014, alongside the YouTube recording. The cast recording reached #4 on Billboard's Comedy Albums the week of November 22, 2014.[2]
Critical Reception[]
Ani received mixed reviews.
TheForce.Net said of the "non-musical musical" concept, "The music and lyrics, despite being wonderfully penned by TalkFine, don't seem to be as effective off-stage as they probably would have been on-stage," also criticising the production design and describing the script as "not Nick & Matt Lang's best"; however, there was praise for the performances and the humour.[3]
Observation Deck criticised the weak plot but praised the humor.[4]
Hypable's Danielle Zimmermann praised Brian Holden's portrayal of Jar-Jar Binks and Nick Lang's portrayal of Obi-Wan, calling the show "cleverly written and a lot of fun."[5]
Gallery
 Click here to view the gallery. |
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=act6dJe-BfQ&ab_channel=TeamStarKid
- ↑ "Comedy Albums: Top Stand Up Comedy Chart". Billboard.
- ↑ "TheForce.net: TFN Review: ANI: A Parody". www.theforce.net.
- ↑ "Observation Deck - Miscalibrated Internet Receptor Stalks". Observation Deck.
- ↑ "Starkid's 'Ani: A Parody' review: A non-musical musical". 21 July 2014.
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