One of my favorite corners of the internet that I have really dived into recently is the YouTube production company named Starkid. Starkid, for those who are not in the know, is a production company that produces comedic musicals and parody musicals, which are filmed in front of an audience and then uploaded onto YouTube. Their most famous musicals are probably the “A Very Potter Musical,” a parody of the Harry Potter series, and “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals,” an original comedy-horror romp.
I love a lot of their musicals, so I was reasonably excited for their new release, “Cinderella’s Castle,” which promised to be a more traditional musical as compared to the past three the company has put on, which have all been horror comedies. I even stayed up late to watch the premiere on YouTube. I was that excited. But as I sat there watching the musical, I was hit with the shocking reality that the musical just wasn’t very good.
“Cinderella’s Castle” on the outset seems like a pretty tame adaptation of the source material – until it’s revealed that the evil stepmother is a troll, the prince is a disgusting perv, and that there are eldritch creatures who hold sway over the magic of the world. This all seems like stuff I would really enjoy, but sadly the musical somehow feels boring even with these elements.
Let’s talk positives first, though. I loved all the actors in this musical. Bryce Charles d0es an amazing job as Cinderella, with what her character is given. Angela Giarttena, of SMOSH fame, is also amazing in the musical as the evil stepmother, and basically anyone who had to work with puppets in the musical was great. Jon Matteson and Joey Richter really play off each other well as Sir Hops-a-lot and Crumb, which made me really wish we saw more of them. Lauren Lopez is, as always, hilarious, and her performance as Rancilda Ashmore is no exception.
I also want to praise the set design for the musical, as even though I think their previous musical, “Nerdy Prudes Must Die,” had a more character-filled set, this one was also amazing. The puppets are also amazing, and it just makes me wish there were more scenes where these puppets got a spotlight, like in the classic Starkids musical “Starship,” which, even though the puppets were considerably cheaper, still had a bigger spotlight than in this show.
This, however, is where I am forced to stop praising this musical because there really isn’t that much more positive that I can say about this show. My first major problem is the songs. The songs sound fine — they are overall pleasing to the ears — but the way they decided to split up the songs amongst the characters makes almost zero sense. There are about three solo songs just for Cinderella, which could have worked if the songs were anything special or interesting, but they aren’t, and Charles, who has an amazing voice, is barely challenged vocally by the role. And by giving so much of the song real estate to samey-sounding songs sung by the same person, it detracts from other characters getting the chance to sing. Why don’t Crumb and Sir Hops-a-lot get a song? Why not the love interest played by Curt Mega?
This brings me to my other major problem with the musical, Cinderella herself. While I like Charles a lot in the role, the character just feels super boring and underdeveloped. I was shocked by this when I first watched the musical, as perhaps the best part of every Starkids musical previously was the main character. Paul Matthews, Zazzalil, and Draco Malfoy are all iconic as main characters in their respective musicals because they all stand out and are hilarious. Nothing stands out about Cinderella in this musical. I was just sitting there watching and just questioning: Is she funny? Is she indifferent? Does she really want to be queen? What is her plan of revenge on her stepmother? And the musical never really tries to answer these questions in any meaningful way. She just did not work at all, and her hackneyed resurrection at the end of the show did not help matters from making this character just feel not great all around.
Also, and this is probably my biggest problem with the show: it’s just not funny. Sure, there were some funny moments, particularly whenever the stepmother and stepsiblings were ever in the same scene, but there just wasn’t anything memorable. Compare this to previous musicals from Starkid, and there are still moments that stick out in my head to this day, while I have basically forgotten every joke made in this musical already, and it’s been a month since I saw it.
I really hate to criticize this musical. I love Starkids and the musicals they have put together. They are usually pretty good and funny. But this one just felt like a slog that I was obligated to sit through, not something I actually wanted to watch. I hope that they do better with the next one, whether it’s another horror comedy, or if it’s a parody, or if it’s another attempt at this world. Go check it out, though, and form your own opinion because I have seen some people say they have really enjoyed this musical. It’s free if you have the chance, and it’s definitely not the worst musical I have ever seen.
