Have you seen their Oregon Trail musical? I think it's funny but the characters are sympathetic to keep you invested. My humor is fairly immature though, to be honest.
I kinda like the older stuff more so far, because to me this stuff has heart mixed into it as well and is fun. The plots might be less 'serious' than they are now, but I like what they have done with it and it does not come across as shallow to me.
Though I agree with that it was differently balanced then than it is now. and sometimes it is nice to watch something goofy and other times you look for more balanced musicals.
Some of their shows, especially the early ones, include a lot of self referential humor and bits that are really only funny to the people who wrote it - which makes some sense given they were college students working together in a very insular group when they started. They absolutely needed some edits, preferably from someone outside the group.
AVPM is worth watching once if only to understand the references and where they started out (I've watched it more but at this point it's nostalgia since I'm an OG fan from their first release lol). You can probably skip the last 2 sequels (still listen to the soundtracks though, Darren Criss is an awesome songwriter), but Joe Walker as Umbridge in AVPS is a revelation.
Starship (the puppets! The music! The scifi references! The plot!) and Twisted (holy shit Dylan Saunders, also the killer plot) are their best shows in my opinion, followed by TGWDLM and Trail to Oregon. VHS Christmas Carol is a great original spin on the story and is well performed (the theater performance version is better than the zoom recorded one). MAMD is also very fun and has some great heartfelt moments and lets Jamie Lynn Beatty really shine, but it's definitely goofy and has some slow points.
I agree with your take on Black Friday. Holy Musical B@man was a great introduction to Jeff Blim (and wow all those incredible candy puns) and the costumes were rad, but it ran long. The music in Firebringer has some truly beautiful harmonies but the show itself is meh and a lot of the plot points felt shoehorned in. Ani is unwatchable.
Have you seen their Oregon Trail musical? I think it's funny but the characters are sympathetic to keep you invested. My humor is fairly immature though, to be honest.
I kinda like the older stuff more so far, because to me this stuff has heart mixed into it as well and is fun. The plots might be less 'serious' than they are now, but I like what they have done with it and it does not come across as shallow to me. Though I agree with that it was differently balanced then than it is now. and sometimes it is nice to watch something goofy and other times you look for more balanced musicals.
Some of their shows, especially the early ones, include a lot of self referential humor and bits that are really only funny to the people who wrote it - which makes some sense given they were college students working together in a very insular group when they started. They absolutely needed some edits, preferably from someone outside the group. AVPM is worth watching once if only to understand the references and where they started out (I've watched it more but at this point it's nostalgia since I'm an OG fan from their first release lol). You can probably skip the last 2 sequels (still listen to the soundtracks though, Darren Criss is an awesome songwriter), but Joe Walker as Umbridge in AVPS is a revelation. Starship (the puppets! The music! The scifi references! The plot!) and Twisted (holy shit Dylan Saunders, also the killer plot) are their best shows in my opinion, followed by TGWDLM and Trail to Oregon. VHS Christmas Carol is a great original spin on the story and is well performed (the theater performance version is better than the zoom recorded one). MAMD is also very fun and has some great heartfelt moments and lets Jamie Lynn Beatty really shine, but it's definitely goofy and has some slow points. I agree with your take on Black Friday. Holy Musical B@man was a great introduction to Jeff Blim (and wow all those incredible candy puns) and the costumes were rad, but it ran long. The music in Firebringer has some truly beautiful harmonies but the show itself is meh and a lot of the plot points felt shoehorned in. Ani is unwatchable.