5 fan-made Star Wars musicals you’ve never heard of

Star Wars is a story that’s been told in many different formats. There have been movies, television shows, books, comics, and video games. However, there has never been a stage adaptation of the Star Wars universe. At least, not officially. However, Star Wars has inspired quite a few stage musicals to be created that are either based on, or at least inspired by the events that took place in the Star Wars universe.

1. Star Wars the Musical (high school version)

One of the first times that we know of Star Wars being put to music on a stage was in a high school performance in 1996. The students at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in California put on an adaptation of A New Hope complete with musical numbers. The songs in this show were well known show numbers with the lyrics re-written to fit the Star Wars story (think singing about the Millennium Falcon instead of Greased Lightning). The show obviously has a loveable amateurish quality, but the 1996 performance was captured on video and years later was finally uploaded to the internet for us all to enjoy.

2. Star Wars: The Musical

This is probably the most earnest attempt at creating a musical version of Star Wars. While most Star Wars musicals are done tongue in cheek with constant winks at the audience, this one is probably the most straightforward of all the Star Wars musicals. Completed in 1999, this version of Star Wars: The Musical, like the rest of of the musicals, started as a joke, but as the project was fleshed out, it drew clear inspiration from Broadway hits such as Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables to tell a dramatic and high concept story on the stage. While the creators knew that the show would never really hit the Broadway stage, they did complete the entire score as a concept album and uploaded it for free online so that others could share in their fan project. You can download the album and learn more about the project here.

3. A Musical about Star Wars

This show takes a more meta approach to the journey of attempting to turn Star Wars into a musical. A Musical about Star Wars features two Star Wars super fans, Scott and Taylor, and their attempts to adapt Star Wars into a musical. The third member of the cast however, doesn’t like Star Wars. This third member, Emily, wants to be a musical star, but hates Star Wars and wants to destroy the musical from the inside. Scott and Taylor have until the end of the show, and the show within the show, to convince Emily that Star Wars is the greatest story ever told. The show was popular enough to have an Off Broadway run and a cast album that you can find on Spotify. As a bonus, the progress bar on Spotify turns into a lightsaber for this particular album that grows as the song goes on.

4: Ani – The Musical

Team Starkid is a theater troupe that has made quite a name for themselves in the musical parody genre. Best known for their Very Potter trilogy of musicals, the company started as a group of college kids at the University of Michigan, and have gone on to produce some of the most popular original musicals on the internet. Members of Team Starkid include Darren Criss, and Joey Richter. With parodies of Harry Potter, Batman, and Disney, it was only a matter of time that the company turned their sights on Star Wars, with Ani: A Parody.

The musical focuses on Darth Vader (or Ani) in-between Episode III and Episode IV. Having successfully brought down the Republic and destroyed the Jedi Order, Ani feels lost and adrift, and decides to recapture his glory days as a champion pod racer. The musical is full of plenty of nods not just to the main Star Wars movies but to the expanded universe as well. Mara Jade is a fairly prominent character, and Obi-Wan reflects on how every time he thinks he’s killed an enemy, they keep coming back as half robot. Ani is different from most musicals in that the musical numbers aren’t performed by the actors themselves but are instead sung by the band, while the actors act out the action on stage. It can be a little bit jarring if you go in expecting a more traditional musical setup, but the copious amount of Star Wars jokes are worth it. The entire show is available to watch on Youtube.

5. Wicket the musical

Wicked is one of the most popular Broadway shows in recent memory. The musical tells the story of the Wizard of Oz from a different angle where we learn that The Wicked Witch isn’t actually the villain of the show, but instead her actions have been taken out of context. Wicket, a parody musical takes the same approach to the world of Star Wars. It turns out, according to the show, that Ewoks weren’t just a random native species on the planet that the Empire used to build their shield generator, but instead were the key to the Emperor’s entire plan. The Ewoks, again, according to the show, were the entire reason for the selection of Endor, and were central in a plan that was far more convoluted than you ever would have guessed if you’ve only seen the Star Wars movies. The show has a lot of fun, not only adding context to the Emperor’s relationship with the Ewoks, but Princess Leia’s as well. You can listen to the original soundtrack in its entirety on Soundcloud.

Follow Dork Side of the Force for all your Star Wars news, reviews, and more!