The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (often shortened to TGWDLM) is a horror-comedy musical^[1] created by StarKid Productions. It is a book written by Nick Lang and Matt Lang and the music is composed and written by Jeff Blim.

The musical tells a story about Paul, a regular office guy with a awful disgust of musicals. In the words of Paul himself, musicals are his own "personal hell"^[2]. But, if a meteor hits his hometown, Hatchetfield, and musical aliens want to take over, he has to experiance this awfulness to survive. He and his friends try to save their town of this musical apocolypse.

The musical was performed from 11 October to 4 November in the Matrix theater in Los Angelas California.^[3] It aired on youtube on December 23 2018. ^[4] This is Starkids eleventh official musical, A Very Potter Musical being the first ever musical they performed in 2009. This actually went extremely viral^[5] and after that they kept on making musicals such as Me and My Dick (2009), A Very Potter Sequel (2010), Starship (2011), Holy Musical B@man! (2012), A Very Potter Senior Year (only stage reading, 2012), Twisted, the Untold Story of a Royal Vizier (2013), The Trail to Oregon! (2014), Ani, a parody (2014) and Firebringer (2016).

Synopsis[edit]

Act I[edit]

Prologue. Haunting music. Aliens conquer the stage with a mighty chorus ("The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals"^[6]). But suddenly then, they vanish.

An office. Paul is working hard to get his reports by the end of the day. He goes out to get some coffee, and ask if one of his co-workers, Charlotte or Bill, wants to come. Bill and Charlotte don't want to, and when Paul wants to leave, Ted comes in and starts talking about one "Latte Hottay". Paul leaves him behind and goes to Beanies, to get some black coffee.

In Beanies there is a small fight between a customer and a barista, Emma. Because of that she also gets in disagreements with her boss, Nora, a co-worker, Zoey, and another customer, an obnoxious teen. All because Emma doesn't want to sing when people tip her. When Paul tips her, he doesn't want her to sing, he just tipped because "people should tip".

When Paul walks out of Beanies he crosses paths with a Greenpeace Canvasser, who wants Paul to sign up for Greenpeace. But in their heated dicussion, a storm sets on, and something seems to be falling down. Charlotte (who is with Ted instead of her husband Sam) is worried about Sam. But Sam is also with someone else, Zoey. They set of to see Mamma Mia in the Starlight theater, just like where Bill is setting of to with his daughter, they are together on the phone. Alica (his daughter) is with some smoking teens and her girlfriend, Deb. There is also a professor making his way through the storm, and seems to be talking to it.

The next morning. Paul makes his way to work, where he comes by the same Greenpeace girl. When he tries to apologize to her she bursts out in a song (La dee dah dah day) along with some townmembers of Hatchetfield. When Paul arrives confused at work, he gets called to his boss's office, who also starts singing to Paul (What do you want Paul?). Paul flees to Beanies, to get some coffee. He tells Emma that he thinks the world is becoming a musical, but she has to go off and sing a tip song with her co-workers (Cup of roasted coffee), but when Emma wants to quit her job, she gets stopped by her infected co-workers and infected costumers (Cup of poisoned coffee).

Paul and Emma run away to an alleyway, where coincidental Pauls co-workers Bill, Charlotte and Ted are too. Charlotte called her husband Sam, a cop to save her, but he and two other cops also start singing (Show me your hands), and Ted slams a trash can lid on Sams head, and his brain falls out. Emma suggests to go to professor Hidgens, a biologist from her community college, because he has been preparing for this apocolypse for the past 27 years.

Arriving at the professor's they hear how he theorized the situation 30 years ago. Sams head is full of blue "shit", which Hidgens says is from aliens, and he's going to examine it. Paul asks him if they can have something to drink, they go to Hidgens' basement. After that Ted leaves too and Charlotte is left alone with (an infected) Sam, tied to a chair, when suddenly he wakes up and starts singing to Charlotte (You tied up my heart) and begs her to untie him of the chair. When she does, Sam kills Charlotte.

In Hidgens' basement Ted and Bill have a fight which Paul stops. Emma and Paul are in the middle of a meaningful conversation, when suddenly, Charlotte and Sam break in and start to sing (Join us (and die)). When they try to kill everyone, professor Hidgens comes in and shots Sam and Charlotte. He explains that they are aliens, and they wear our skin to fool us. Then Bill gets a call from his daughter, who is stuck in Hatchetfield High. He want to safe her, but Ted doesn't believe in him. The rest does and Paul goes with Bill to save Alice.

Act II[edit]

Paul and Bill arrive at Hatchetfield High, but Alice has also been infected and starts singing together with two other aliens (Not your seed). Bill wants to kill himself, but when Paul stops him, the aliens kill Bill. They also try to kill Paul, but the army back the aliens away and knock out Paul.

Back in the laboratory Hidgens and Emma talk about how the aliens work. But suddenly Hidgens pulls out a syringe and makes Emma unconscious. He takes her away in bridal style.

When Paul wakes up he meets General Macnamara, and he tells Paul that he actually has to kill him. Paul begs him to let him alive, and safe Emma. Macnamara sets a chopper ready for him in an hour time and Paul is going to safe Emma.

Ted and Emma wake up tied to each other and to chairs. Professor is there too and tells them that they have to join the aliens, and he does this with his much deeper passion: musical theater! He starts singing (Showstoppin' number) and during his song, two aliens come into his house, and they all sing along. Just in time, Paul safes Emma and Ted. The aliens kill professor Hidgens.

Paul, Ted and Emma want to go to the chopper to be saved, but Paul gets captured by one of the aliens and Emma goes after him. Ted runs away and runs into the army, but the army has been infected and Ted gets too. When Paul and Emma (freed from the alien) come back they find Ted anc the army singing and dancing (America is great again). Luckily they can escape to the chopper. But arrived in the chopper, it shows that Zoey is operating it and she pulls a gun at them, which leads to their crash. Emma's leg is open and she tells Paul to destroy the meteor and kill the aliens.

Paul sets off to the old Starlight Theatre and when he wants to pull the pin of a grenade, but then all the people he knows come in as aliens. They all start to sing (Let it out) and because of the meteor Paul gets into the song as well. But he succeeds in pulling the pin and everything blows up.

A hospital. Colonel Schaffer talks to a nurse and Emma can get out the hospital in Clivesdale, because in Hatchetfield there were no survivors. Emma gets driven by in the words of the colonel: a really good friend, maybe even more. That person turns out to be Paul, and Emma is very happy to see him. A happy ending.

Is it? Paul and Emma hug and then Paul begins to sing on his own, and all the other aliens join him (Inevitable).

The apotheosis is upon us!

Cast[edit]

Actor/Actress	Character
Jonathan Matteson	Paul
Lauren Lopez	Emma
Joey Richter	Ted - Homeless Man - Danny
Jaime Lyn Beatty	Charlotte - Nora - Deb - Soldier 1 - Colonel Schaffer
Corey Dorris	Bill - Chorus Member 2 - Another Passerby
Mariah Rose Faith	Melissa - Zoey - Greenpeace Canvasser - Alica - Donna - Cop 2 - Nurse
Robert Manion	Obnoxious Teen - Professor Hidgens - News Narration - Mike - Cop 1
Jeff Blim	Chorus Member 1 - Mr. Davidson - Coffee Jerk - Man in a hurry - Sam - Dan - General MacNamara

Crew^[7][edit]

Crew member	Job
Matt Dahan	Music Direction
Ilana Elroi	Sound Design, Engineering
Paul Gabriel	Stage Manager
Nick Lang	Producer, Director
Corey Lubowich	Scenic Design, Producer
Sarah Petty	Lighting Design
Amy Plouff	Senic Charge
Brian Rosenthal	Sound Design
June Saito	Costume Design
Jade Svenson	Wardrobe/Deck Hand
Hatchetfield High School	Band
Matt Dahan	Keyboard 1
Josh Fleury	Bass
Sam Johnides	Guitar, Keyboard 2
Ryan McDiarmid	Drum

Musical numbers^[8][edit]

Act I[edit]

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Chorus
La dee dah dah day - Greenpeace canvasser, Homeless man, Chorus members
What do you want Paul? - Mr. Davidson
Cup of roasted coffee - Nora, Zoey, Emma
Cup of poisoned coffee - Nora, Zoey, Mike, costumers
Show me your hands - Sam, Cop 1, Cop 2
You tied up my heart - Sam
Join us (and die) - Sam, Charlotte

Act II[edit]

Not your seed - Alice, Deb, Chorus member
Show stoppin number - Professor Hidgens, Greg, Stu
America is great again - General Macnamara, soldiers
Let him come - Professor Hidgens, Mr. Davidson, Nora
Let it out - Paul, Professor Hidgens, Greenpeace Canvasser, Bill, Ted, Mr. Davidson, Nora
Inevitable - Paul, Professor Hidgens, Nurse, Mr. Davidson, Nora, Ted, Bill

References[edit]