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jackie-talks-about-starkid · 4 years

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Firebringer (Rewatch #10, 11/15/2020)

YouTube publish date: December 31, 2016

Number of views on date of rewatch: 4,317,045

Original Performance Run: July 6 - August 7, 2016 at Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois

Ticket price: General-$35, VIP-$60

Director: Julia Albain and Nick Lang

Music and Lyrics: Meredith Stepien and Mark Swiderski

Book: Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang

Cast album price and availability: $9.99 on iTunes Release date: November 22, 2016

Parody or original: original content

Funding: $154, 670 from 3, 722 backers on Kickstarter (x)

Original Goal: $88,000

Main cast and characters

Jemilla - Meredith Stepien

Zazzalil - Lauren Lopez

Molag - Lauren Walker

Keeri - Denise Donovan

Emberly - Rachael Soglin

Grunt - Joey Richter

Tiblyn - Tiffany Williams

Ducker - Joe Walker

Schwoopsie - Jamie Lyn Beatty

Chorn - Jamie Burns

Smelly-Balls - Brian Holden

Clark Baxtresser - Clark Baxtresser

Musical numbers

Act I

“Fire” Characters: Company

“We Are People Now” Characters: Company

“We Got Work To Do” Characters: Zazzalil, Jemilla, and Ensemble

“What If?” Characters: Zazzalil

“Welcome to the Stone Age” Characters: Ensemble

“Just a Taste” Characters: Emberly and Grunt

“The Night Belongs to Snarl” Characters: Smelly-Balls, Schwoopsie, Ducker, Tiblyn, and Ensemble

“Into the Night” Characters: Zazzalil and Ensemble

“The Night Belongs to Us” Characters: Zazzalil, Jemilla, and Ensemble

Act II

“Jemilla’s Lament” Characters: Jemilla

“Paint Me” Characters: Grunt and Emberly

“Ouch My Butt” Characters: Ensemble

“Backfire” Characters: Zazzalil and Ensemble

“Together” Characters: Jemilla and Zazzalil

“Chorn” Characters: Chorn and Ensemble

“Finale (Make the Most of It)” Characters: Company

Notable Notes:

“I Don’t Really Wanna Do The Work Today” became a meme that was so popular the Broadway cast of The Book of Mormon and that year’s touring cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella made their own videos performing the song

Cultural Context: 2016

Beyoncé releases her visual album, “Lemonade”

Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins an Oscar for his performance in The Revenant

Hamilton won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama and that year’s Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in theaters

Content Analysis:

Firebringer has one of StarKid’s most inventive storylines in their collective works and has the added bonus of being an inherently feminist, woman-led piece. The story of a woman who invented fire and another woman who led the ancestors of the human race into creating a just and equal society sounds more like a provocative, experimental play rather than a comedy musical yet StarKid once again seems to be the only group of people that can pull off such a unique concept, successfully critiquing our current society while also presenting the storyline and characters in a way that makes the audience relax with each bit of commentary rather than tense up and ignore the performance. It’s refreshing to be an audience member of Firebringer. The musical numbers and character performances are entertaining in a way that feels comforting and almost happy-go-lucky despite the fact that the production takes place at an imagined pivotal point in the history of the human race. The dialogue and small comedic moments between the characters make fun of how dumb humanity can be at times, resorting to crude body humor and questionable social skills, but pull an about-face in the next scene by displaying the strength and ingenuity of the human race and our desire to succeed and prosper in an environment that seems dead-set on ensuring our demise.

As well as just generally being an enjoyable work of musical comedy, the dynamic of the piece is feminist in a way that is not explicitly stated but simply accepted by the characters within the universe and, by extension, the audience itself. Jemilla is a woman who is a well-respected and undisputed leader of an entire tribe, whose female mentor and former leader is just as highly regarded, and Zazzalil is a provocative thinker who kickstarts the tribe into advancing as a society by introducing fire and hunting into their daily survival skills, yet no where in the story do any of these strong female leads gets questioned for being women in positions of power. It is an indisputable fact accepted by all characters regardless of gender that these women are the leaders of their society and the fact that this isn’t brought up in any negative or positive connotation within the confines of the story’s universe is such a genius way to address feminism in a theatrical work. If they were to make a point of putting the women in a negative situation where gender discourse is the main cause of the threat to the characters only for the woman to bounce back in order to prove that she is just as strong or worthy as any potential male leader, it would have reinforced the idea that women need to prove that they are just as good as men rather than the society around them accepting the fact that all genders are equal regardless of identity. On the other hand, if they were to pat themselves on the back and make it a point of being progressive in choosing women to lead their tribe, it would have turned the choice into one of pandering rather than genuine belief on the writers’ part and on the characters. By not mentioning the feminist core of the musical within the story itself, Firebringer naturally shows the audience through fictional storytelling the gender equality that our society can achieve for itself without making the situation too unrealistic to be considered unattainable (not than unrealistic situations cannot be written and performed successfully otherwise, it’s comforting to see).

As for the actual book content of the show, it is not StarKid’s strongest in terms of consistency. The humor, the heart, and the quality of performance are always aspects of StarKid shows that the audience can depend on being as good as ever with each new production, but there are moments in certain scenes, such as Keeri’s initial confrontation with Zazzalil and Jemilla and Zazzalil’s reunion, that the dialogue between characters switches in and out of a natural flow of conversation, making it easy to lose interest in a dialogue heavy scene until another joke happens. Similarly, there are moments where lyrics in songs, such as “Into the Night” and “Paint Me,” are not musically or verbally compatible with the verses in which they are sung. The majority of lyrics are clever and match the tone and character of the performance perfectly, but there is an occasional clunky line or oddly-placed word that I found to be distracting enough to take note of during the song.

Overall, Firebringer is a lighthearted musical with great performances and cleverly intertwined social commentary that adds to the comedic tone of the piece rather than distracts from it. I wish that more musicals were written in the tone of Firebringer, in both the sense of overall quality, gender representation, and sexuality representation, which, like the gender placement of the main characters, is written so naturally that it’s almost hard to believe real life isn’t like the one represented onstage in which gender ruled without the patriarchy and sexuality lived in without heteronormativity is so commonplace it’s a nonissue.

#@TeamStarkid #firebringer #for my independent study #starkid productions #starkid musicals #team starkid #starkid #musical theatre #musicals #theatre

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mavrustheunskooled · 7 years

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For the musicals thing you should do Firebringer and Spies Are Forever

Firebringer: the first song from this show I heard: probably the opening because I don’t think I heard any music before I watched it  do I own the cast album?: no because my iTunes is shared with my family so I can’t own music that swears. I own just a taste  favorite song: into the night or what if  least favorite song: I don’t know if I have one… I love every song… I was going to say “if I have to choose” but I genuinely can’t pick one  favorite character: DUCKER or Schwoopsie  least favorite character: how am I supposed to pick one……. I guess Grunt just because of unnecessary heterosexuality (I love Joey though)  OTP: Jemilla and Zazzalil obVIOUSLY  BROTP: Chorn and Smelly Balls or Zazzalil and Keeri  NOTP: GruntandEmberly I’M SORRY OKAY IT’S JUST ANNOYING THAT THE HET COUPLE GOT 2 DUETS AND THE GAY MAIN CHARACTERS GOT 1  song I didn’t like at first but now do: climate change (I didn’t love it at first but now I’m a bit obsessed)  song I used to like but now don’t: paint me or whatever it’s called (again, solely because it took away from Jemilla and Zazzalil)   is the fandom annoying?: I don’t talk much with the starkid fandom bc I’m awkward, but they seem nice!!  do I read/write fanfic for this show?: nah  favorite non-sung line: I DID IT FOR YOU ZAZZALIL  favorite lyric: the entirety of into the night  overall rating out of 10: 9.999999/10 it’s only not a perfect 10 because of Grunt and Emberly

Spies are forever: the first song from this show I heard: again, the opening because I didn’t listen to anything before I watched it  do I own the cast album?: no  favorite song: prisoner of my past because MARY KATE WILES or doing this or whatever it’s called because it’s hilarious and catchy  least favorite song: probably keep your eyes on the prize (the Cynthia one) it’s still great but in comparison to the rest of the musical I felt like it was a bit forgettable  favorite character: Owen- not because I like him as a person; I just find him a really compelling character  least favorite character: Baron Von Nazi bc he’s a Nazi  OTP: Curt x happiness and a good boyfriend  BROTP: Curt x Tatiana  NOTP: Curt x Owen (Curt deserves a better boyfriend)  song I didn’t like at first but now do: I don’t know if I ever didn’t like any songs… I guess I like one more shot even more than I used to  song I used to like but now don’t: I don’t have one I love this musical too much  is the fandom annoying?: not that I know of  do I read/write fanfic for this show?: nooooooo  favorite non-sung line: what about our secret?  favorite lyric: I guess we’re not doing this / we’re better as friends / that was not a good kiss / I don’t mean to offend just bc I love that scene and also Mary Kate Wiles’ voice especially at that moment is perfection 👀👌  overall rating out of 10: 103757393737439/10 I love this musical

thank you !!

~*~if you want you can send me a (starkid or tin can brothers or whatever) musical and I’ll rate it like this bc I love talking about musicals~*~

#I watched both of these last night #ask #anon #firebringer #saf

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