Live Review: Starkid at The London Palladium

Starkid is back in London and it was totally awesome!

"Team Starkid landed back in London this weekend for their second time at the London Palladium with their show I Can’t Believe It’s Been A Little Less Than A Year. Playing to a sold out Saturday and a jam-packed house on Sunday, fans queued around the block to see their favourite YouTube theatre kids perform some of their hit songs live.

The cast and crew behind Starkid has grown over the years since their days at the University of Michigan. Representing Team Starkid in London were Clark Baxtresser, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Jeff Blim, Bryce Charles, Corey Dorris, Brian Holden, A.J. Holmes, Lauren Lopez, Joey Richter, and Meredith Stepien.

Before the show, I met with some of the fans queuing around the London Palladium. Most were dressed as their favourite characters from various Starkid shows. I saw many Grace Chastity’s from Nerdy Prudes Must Die and Zazzalils and Jemillas from Firebringer. Watching fans from around the world meet for the first time and bond over their love of Starkid was truly magical to watch. Friendship bracelets were shared, photos taken together, and new relationships formed. Before the show even started, it was evident the impact that Starkid has made on its fans. They have cultivated a community of kindness, compassion, creativity and togetherness and have made such a safe space for people. 

The show opened to a roar of applause and screams as the cast ran on stage one by one to “This is the End” from the A Very Potter Musical: Senior Year. The high intensity song was the perfect tune to kick off the night as the cast danced and sang and led us through highlights of their discography.

London audiences were in for a special treat as they continued the show with a brand new original song made just for this performance, “I Can’t Believe it’s Been a Little Less Than a Year”. Within this song, they hinted at how happy they were to be back in London for several reasons, introducing that the comedic plot for the show was deciding which cast member was worthy enough to earn UK citizenship.

The show continued at high velocity with group and solo performances from the cast members. Bryce Charles made her Starkid concert debut with songs from Nerdy Prudes Must Die, and their latest show Cinderella’s Castle, in which she took the helm as Ella Ashmore. After a few touching words thanking the rest of the cast and crew for being so welcoming, and an enormous roar of love and support from the audience, Charles absolutely slayed two songs from Cinderella’s Castle, alongside Blim, Lopez, and Richter. Beatty, Blim, and Holmes closed out the first act with incredible harmonies and powerhouse belts performing “Happy Ending” from Twisted.

The second act kicked off with the entire cast melodically performing “We Are People Now” from Firebringer and, led by Stepien and Lopez, transitioned into the song that took TikTok by storm “We Got Work To Do”. Audience members that could, got up on their feet and did the steps alongside the cast. 

The most magical moment of the night was when Holmes and Stepien joined Baxtresser at the piano for a rendition of “Long Ago and Far Away”, a slow, harmonic, and beautiful song from Ani: A Parody. A few chords into the song, lights began to emerge from the audience as one by one everyone pulled out their phones and turned on the torch and began waving them back and forth. It was a moment that gave you the chills as you saw firsthand the connection between Starkid, and the impact their work has had on their fans.

Closing the show, the cast performed a fun and provocative cover of George Michael’s “Father Figure”. While this certainly would’ve been a perfect way to round off the show, Team Starkid were happy to oblige the audience’s cries for “one more tune” with an encore. And every Starkid fan knows there’s really only one song that is acceptable for a Starkid encore. Back to the place where our stories began, it was “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts”. The crowd rose with those iconic first chords and, as Holmes appeared as Harry Potter, everyone began to sing along."

Review and Photos by Eily Jones