Book Matt Lang
Nick Lang Composer Pierce Siebers Playwrights Nick Lang, Matt Lang | Productions 2014 Chicago Basis Star Wars | |
Matt Lang plays The Trail to Oregon!, Holy Musical B@man!, Starship, A Very Potter Sequel, A Very Potter Musical | ||
Ani a parody
Ani is a play with music written by Matt Lang and Nick Lang with music by Clark Baxtresser and Pierce Siebers.
Contents
The musical parodies Star Wars. "Ani" refers to Anakin Skywalker.
The musical was performed between July 3 and August 10, 2014, at Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois. It ran for a total of 22 performances, and was performed in repertory with The Trail to Oregon!, both being produced by StarKid Productions. The group put the entire musical up on YouTube on October 31, 2014. The musical's cast recording was released on iTunes the same day. The cast recording reached #4 on Billboard's Comedy Albums the week of November 22, 2014.
Ani is coming to youtube
Act I
The show opens with Darth Vader facing away from the audience. A voiceover plays over of an announcer (Brian Holden) narrating the win of Ani at a pod race. An Imperial officer (Eric Kahn Gale) comes in and prompts him, calling him "Lord Vader". Vader turns around and tells the officer to call him "Ani" (Chris Allen). 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. [UNFINISHED]
Act II
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.
Cast and characters
Every actor also played various characters as part of the ensemble.