The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 5B
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 5B
Saying goodbye
to the University
How the Daily
became a freshman
film buff's niche
By ANDREW LAPIN
Daily Arts Writer
Had I not joined the Daily
freshman year, I doubt I would
have ever learned just how many
people on campus think it sucks.
Large swaths of students have
told me this over the past three
years, in no uncertain terms.
Often "The Daily sucks" is the lit-
eral phrase they use. "I only pick
it up for the crosswords/Sudoku"
is another common utterance.
"Why didn't you cover my fund-
raising event?" probably comes in
a distant third.
If you've said any of these
things, I have no desire at this
point in the game to convince you
otherwise. That's your preroga-
tive, and I'm sorry you didn't feel
we adequately served your needs
during your time here. All I can
say is that things look a little dif-
ferent from my end.
On a purely selfish note,
I would never have had the
opportunity to attend my first
film festival, interview the two
heftiest people in show busi-
ness (Michael Moore and Kevin
Smith, not to brag or anything) or
walk through the hallowed halls
of Pixar had it not been for the
Daily. But I didn't do this just for
the trips and interviews.
No, the true value of groups
like the Daily lies in the social
interactions. Without the Daily
as a common ground, I never
would have found an organiza-
tion of people who share my
obsessive urge to talk about
issues as seemingly trivial as the
critical respectability of Roger
Ebert or the number of pop-
culture references made on the
previous night's "Community."
And without those people at the
Daily, it's all too likely I would
have spent my time at Michigan
as an isolated, socially inept film
buff instead of as an outgoing,
somewhat socially accepted film
buff.
My iPod would also be miss-
ing half its library if I had never
joined the Daily, which is the true
test of lasting personal impact.
Now anytime I blast The Hold
Steady's "Sequestered in Mem-
phis" or K'naan's "Somalia," the
experience will be inexorably
tied to memories of dance par-
ties and mix CDs, the origins of
which can be traced back to - yes
- the Daily. This paper was my
impetus for most of what made
college awesome, just as I'm sure
activities like Dance Marathon,
club sports or Greek life were for
many of you.
Look, four years on a campus
like Michigan demands a well-
rounded experience. And you're
always going to leave wishing
you could have done more. I con-
sider myself lucky to have done
all I was able to, which included
exploding out of the Big House
tunnel alongside the rest of the
marching band for three foot-
ball seasons. But there was still
so much else out there I didn't
touch. The bucket list is bottom-
less. The more you do, the more
you wish you've done.
But the more you do, the more
you realize this was the place
for you. When I leave Ann Arbor
in just a little over two weeks
(holy shit!), I'll become just
another old fogey ranting about
how Michigan was better when
I was there. So will you. It's
unavoidable, like being mocked
at Blimpy Burger or Woody
Allen's annual flirtation with
mediocrity. And as much as I
dread that day happening, the
fact is that I still took advantage
of more than my fair share of
opportunities here. And maybe
you did, too.
Hopefully some Daily article,
at some point, resonated with
you. But if anyone asks, you'll
probably still say the Daily sucks.
Hey, don't look at me. It was bet-
ter when I was in it.
Gryffindor students try to imagine the horror that is Dolores Jane Umbridge.
Hogwarts tback to
Ann Arbor withAVPS'
StarKid sequel
0 promises to charm
audiences again
By ADDIE SHRODES
Daily Arts Writer
May 9, 2010 - Even as its
members chat while lounging
on apartment couches, the cre-
ative chemistry of Team StarKid
pops. The group of past and pres-
ent University students who run
this theatrical production com-
pany fused together during their
early moments in college, and
their long shared history shows.
As the StarKids discuss their
highly anticipated "A Very Potte l
Sequel," the jokes never cease to
spark.
The idea for the original "A
Very Potter Musical" ("AVPM")
arose after years of the same sort
of joking about the "Harry Pot-
ter" book series, but friends of
brothers and writers Nick and
Matt Langnever thought the par-
ody musical would materialize.
After Matt Lang, a 2009 LSA
graduate, spontaneously put up
a poster for auditions last year,
Basement Arts picked up the
show, and the play was born.
Even though fans flooded Stu-
dio One to see the original Potter
show, when the team uploaded
the video to YouTube months
later it was still shocked by the
rapid fervid response.
"Without us even noticing,
thousands and thousands of peo-
ple started to watch this thing,"
said Nick Lang, a 2008 graduate
from the School of Music, The-
atre & Dance.
Act One, Part One of the origi-
nal musical now has over 1.5 mil-
lion YouTube hits, capturing fans
from across the globe. The team
was amazed because it didn't
intend for such a wide audience.
"So many of the things that
are funny in the play are because
they're inside jokes," said Bon-
nie Gruesen (Hermione), a 2010
MT&D graduate and the produc-
er of "AVPM." "There is so much
to enjoy about the musical, obvi-
ously...butit was funny to be like,
'Wow, these people are in on our
inside jokes now.'"
In retrospect, the group mem-
bers agree the musical has drawn
so much attention because it's
fresh and one-of-a-kind. It has
a fully original script, score and
take on Harry Potter charac-
ters. The musical follows Harry
and his wizard friends' journey
through Hogwarts while twist-
ing the novel's plot points for
comedic effect.
The popularity of the musical
quickly led Infinitus, a four-day
"Harry Potter" fan and scholar
conference in Orlando this July,
to invite the group to perform.
The team decided the best thing
to bring to Orlando wpuld be a
full-length sequel filmed at the
University's own Studio One.
After embarking on another four-
hour play, Team StarKid began to
feel the pressure.
"Whenever you do something
like this that is a cult hit, the tini- they could accept donations. The
est cult hit that it is, you have to StarKid brand also produced the
live up to not only what it actually Basement Arts musical "Me and
was, but what people think that it My Dick" last fall and the Web
is," Nick said. "You remember it series "Little White Lie." "A Very
better than it was." Potter Sequel" is another incarna-
The brothers adopted tac- tion of their "last project togeth-
tics so they would not fall into er," Matt said.
the conventional potholes that "When I did the original musi-
plague sequels. The jokes had to cal, I said, 'This the last show I'll
be completely different, and the ever do,' and then I did two more,
story needed larger stakes and so it could very well change," Matt
twistier turns. explained.
"You have to come up with While members will most likely
something that (viewers) are not move on from StarKid to individu-
going to expect and that imme- al careers, prospects look hopeful
diately throws off their guard so due to the success of their produc-
they'll go, 'All right, I don't know tions.
where it's going so let's watch "We've got industry people
where it goes,' " Nick said. paying attention, and really that's
But thc team wanted tolivd up "how youstArt out," Nick said."It's
to the fans' expectations while helped our reputation; it's techni-
providing a whole new story to cally hurt our careers, because
celebrate the books. we've spent all of our money. But
"We don't want to let down your reputation is gold."
those 20,000 people," Nick The team consistently hears
said in reference to the core from admirers that it makes the-
fan base. "And the thing is that ater for its generation.
those 20,000 people have been "Although our teachers don't
extremely nice to us, but they know how to do it, they know
could be very mean." we know how to do it," Gruesen
explained. "It's exciting that
we get to make theater for our
Time to start friends and our friends' friends."
Jaime Lyn Beatty (Ginny
doing things the Weasley), who graduated from
the School of Music, Theatre &
Um bridge W ay. Dance this spring, agrees that
StarKid takes theater in a mod-
ern direction.
"It is a new form of theater
The Lang brothers, as well as because it's so self-conscious,"
fellow writer of both Potter musi- Beatty said. "So many of the
cals Brian Holden (a 2008 MT&D scenes in the musical make fun
graduate), are thoroughly satis- of the fact that there is an audi-
fied with the final script. Without ence or that the props are made
giving the plot away, they said of cardboard, and there's some-
the sequel adds new characters thing really charming about that
and draws heavily from the first, for an audience to witness."
third and fifth books."It's better No matter what StarKid mem-
than anythingI thoughtwe could bers pursue, they will bring with
have done," Matt said. them the optimism and positiv-
Although the six-month writ- ity that has surrounded their
ing process was taxing through- productions thus far.
out, the team hopes the shows "It's easy to be pessimistic
will be the opposite. because it's easy to find ways the
"It's really the first time all world sucks - the world kind of
of us will be in a room together does suck," Matt said. "But it's
since this thing has taken off, and hard to find truthful reasons
I think it will be less stressful and to think about something in an
more of just, 'This is awesome,' " optimistic way."
said Joey Richter (Ron Weasley), After all of the Potter shows'
an MT&D senior. parodic plot spirals, Matt hopes
While many of the friends the show will coax smiles from
have dispersed since "AVPM," the viewers in the end.
original cast and crew gave them- "We always want to end up
selves the name Team StarKid with something that makes you
after their YouTube success so feel good."
Judd Apatow ushers in a
new era of comedic film
By JEFFREY BLOOMER r
MatgilgEditar
Sept. 7, 2007 - It's happened
quietly.
Two summers ago a surprise
powerhouse called "The 40-Year-
Old Virgin" opened in American
theaters, and week by week, the-
ater by theater, it built into one of
the year's most successful mov-
ies, let alone comedies. Though
another movie, "Wedding Crash-
ers," released a few weeks before,
far overshot its pop-culture infil-
tration and box-office returns,
the film was well-liked by audi-
ences and critics, building to $110
million on a modest budget and
propelling a then-marginal Steve
Carell into one of the industry's
most important comedians. It
was ahit, and more important, its
success came with an uncommon
wave of goodwill. People liked to
like it.
This is perhaps because the
co-writer, co-producer and direc-
tor of the movie is Judd Apatow,
a familiar name in the industry
who had in the '90s and early
'00s become the foremost cau-
tionary tale in the television
side of Hollywood. His beloved
series "Freaks and Greeks" last-
ed just 18 episodes, and his less
aggressively followed but still
well-regarded follow-up series
"Undeclared" was canceled after
just 17 episodes in 2002. The
shows were funny, good-natured
and often beguiling in how much
they understood about student
life and how deeply they under-
stood it. Even in "Undeclared,"
a sitcom, the usual grind of rush
week and other college-fiction
tentpoles became hilarious odes
to the faux-empowerment of stu-
dent groups on campuses. His
material is funny, but that's the
device, not the point.
In "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," a
movie whose title needs no expla-
nation, the hero isn't belittled or
even difficult to understand. The
big fight he gets into with his first
serious girlfriend is partially over
her treatment of his toys, and it's
not played for laughs. Though we
don'tunderstand his situation, we
understand his perspective. This
guy makes sense - we're never
laughing at him, or at least we're
never intended to - and that's the
chief appeal of Apatow's work.
This summer's pair of
"Knocked Up," which Apatow
co-produced, wrote and direct-
"Is that ... a double rainbow?"
ed, and "Superbad," which he
produced, proved not only two
of the most successful but two
of the most discussed movies
of the summer. "Knocked Up"
opened in June and has already
outgrossed "Virgin" by nearly
$40 million, and the more mod-
estly marketed "Superbad" has
amassed $94 million to date with
strong holdover every weekend
since it opened last month.
Audiences responded, predict-
ably for "Knocked Up" and per-
hapsless so for"Superbad," and so
did the filmcommunity. The sexu-
al politics and dance around abor-
tion in "Knocked Up" spawned
potent commentary from every
ideology and viewpoint. As critic
A.O. Scott wrote in the New York
Times, "If you haven't seen it,
you've been AWOL from the most
entertaining battle in the culture
wars, and if you have, you'd bet-
ter re-up before the really serious
fall movies start forcing you to
pretend to care about something
other than sex."
"Superbad," in contrast to the
bickeringover "Knocked Up," has
benefited enormously from Inter-
net buzz and become another
movie everyone loves to love. (On
IMDb.com, the film database, it's
alreadybeen voted the 120thbest
movie of all time.) The film, which
follows two childhood friends
about to head to college, is exu-
berantly filthy and almost giddily
unpolished, full of improvised
scenes and the unmistakable per-
sonal drive of its performers. The
film finds balance between filth
and sweetness, and it ultimately
morphs into one of the most hon-
est movies about male friendship
in years. It's participatory multi-
plex comedy with an uncontrived
message, a rare species in recent
mainstream comedy.
Contrast that with, say, "I
Now Pronounce You Chuck and
Larry," released in July, a movie
that believes it has an affirmative
message amid a string of jokes
lifted inevitably from stereo-
types. The Adam Sandler school
ofcomedylikethe fratpack (both
of which Apatow has dabbled in),
excels at this broad and repeti-
tive comedy, which is sometimes
funny but almost never reveal-
ing. These movies are successful,
but studios spend huge amounts
of money on name stars ("Chuck
and Larry" cost nearly three
times as much as "Knocked Up"
to produce and grossed consider-
ably less) when they could put it
into the creative minds that make
comedy worth more than the
moment.
To this end, Judd Apatow
has become a brand. Though he
didn't write or direct "Super-
bad," his mark is all over it, and
the expansive cast of perform-
ers (which includes the writers
of "Superbad") who recurrently
appear in his work indicates
that his creative philosophy has
formed contemporaries. As a pro-
ducer he has at least seven movies
in production or in development,
and so his brand of comedy, spir-
ited and intelligent and built on
original humor rather than nasty
archetypes, could be headed into
a resistance, and perhaps into a
new movement for mainstream
American comedy - movies
we like to like, that will live on
beyond the joke about the guy
with the funny accent.
It's said Apatow gleans his nar-
ratives from his own experiences
and temperament. Luckily, if his
movies are any indication, he has
a lot of friends.
Lucius Malfoy leads the Death Eaters into Harry Potter's past for revenge.
A a