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The Trail To Oregon! is the ninth original online musical released by Team StarKid. The musical parodies the video game series The Oregon Trail. The musical was performed July 3-August 10, 2014, at Stage 773 in Chicago, Illinois as part of StarKid's 2014 Summer Season. It was released on YouTube on February 14, 2015.

Summary[]

Join our All-American family as they journey down the The Trail to Oregon!

The Trail to Oregon! is an original musical produced by Starkid Productions and was performed in Chicago in the summer of 2014. It is also the most historically accurate musical portraying the Oregon Trail to date; featuring 12 educational songs, a set precisely replicating the trail’s landscape, and appearances from famous historical figures, such as: Henry McDoon, Cletus Jones, and Cornwallis.  Watch it if you want.

Synopsis[]

Act I[]

The show begins with the father greeting the audience and introducing his wife, teenage daughter, seven-year-old son, and father-in-law (known as grandpa). Father leads the audience in choosing the name of each character. ("Gone To Oregon"). In the filmed show on YouTube the father is named Jack Bauer, the mother is named Slippery When Wet, the grandpa is named Titty Mitty, the son is named Craphole and the daughter is named Mouthface. Father tries to convince the kids that the journey to Oregon will be fun and educational, while Mother passive-aggressively points out that Father burned down their farm. The journey begins in Independence, Missouri, and the family walks through the town, receiving honest but depressing advice from the townspeople ("Independence!"). They decide to go down to the general store to buy only bullets (their reasoning being that as a family of farmers, they don't need any food).

Daughter is approached by a stranger named McDoon. As they flirt, he warns her about the famous outlaws The Bandit King and Cletus Jones. Upon hearing his name, Cletus appears and inadvertently reveals McDoon is the Bandit King. Mother arrives and scares McDoon away, much to the dismay of Daughter. As the women leave, McDoon vows revenge. In the meantime, the general store manager has swindled Father into purchasing a wagon in terrible condition for an outrageous price, along with a deformed ox.

They finally begin their journey, and while the rest of the family complain, Father enjoys the fun of the family road trip ("The Grind"). When the wagon breaks and the family discovers Son ate the food reserves, Mother sends Daughter, Son, and Grandpa to go hunting. After Daughter fails to hit small game, Grandpa hands the gun over the Son and tells his outlandish story about his war against the “lobsters” in 1812 - he claims to have banished the lobsters to the sea, for which the lobsters retaliated by stealing the only million-dollar bill in the world, as it had Grandpa's face on it. Son is faced with a family of buffalo and a moral decision, while Daughter and Grandpa try to convince him to kill ("Pays To Be An Animal"). After Son guns down the buffalo, the family drag what little meat they can carry back to the wagon.

After Daughter tells Mother that she thinks she is overbearing, Mother fakes death so that Daughter will admit she needs her. When Mother 'wakes up', Daughter claims she wishes she didn't have a family to care about and that the Bandit King would take her away. After she leaves, Mother laments her daughter's sadness, and expresses her love ("When The World's At Stake").

Father tries to convince Mother to have sex, but fails several times. She finally agrees, only to be bitten by a snake as soon as they get in the bed together. Father saves her by sucking out the poison, but accidentally swallows the poison himself. While in a coma, he hallucinates a mysterious voice telling him that the 'watchers' (the audience) will kill off one of the family members ("Dysentery World"). The family assumes Father is dead. However, he abruptly awakens and tells them of the fate the voice described. McDoon is watching from afar, planning to take Daughter away and make her his bride, upsetting Cletus Jones (who has his own feelings for the thief). McDoon sets the family wagon on fire while Cletus kidnaps Daughter ("Wagon on Fire").

Act II[]

The show restarts with Daughter in the wagon of The Bandit King, missing her family ("Lost Without You"). Her family arrives at a pub, where Mother pays for her drink with her wedding ring. Mother takes Son and leaves the pub to walk to Oregon, while Father is left with Grandpa. Grandpa gives Father a pep talk, admitting that he left the lobster world in disgrace after losing the love of his life to the lobster and his best friend, Cornwallis. The General Store Guy then enters the pub. Father decides that he will do anything to get back his family and approaches The General Store Guy, demanding a working wagon. When he refuses, Father threatens to shoot him and his partner, because he needed to fix his family no matter what ("When The World's At Stake (Reprise)"). The General Store Guy gives Father his wagon. Father takes the new wagon on the trail, picking up Mother and Son on the way. Mother is overjoyed, and takes the reins, setting the pace to grueling and the rations to barebones ("Speedrun").

While the family races to Oregon, Cletus Jones reveals his jealousy to Daughter, who constantly rejects The Bandit King's advances. The trio come upon the Columbia River, and the bandits decide to float their wagon across the river ("Caulk The Wagon"). While in the river, they hit a rock that causes them to fall out. Daughter grabs onto a rock while the thieves are swept away. The family arrives just in time to see Daughter in the river. Father tells the family they will need to ford the river to save her. When Son protests, remembering a warning from an Independence town person, Mother declares they are a family. They manage to reach Daughter, but crash and wreck their wagon. Luckily, every member of the family is saved by Grandpa's lobster nemesis, Cornwallis.

The family is thrilled to see the Oregon border just a few yards away. When they reach the state line, they are stopped by a doctor, who tells them only the healthy members of the party can continue to Oregon, and one of them (chosen earlier by the audience) is about to die of dysentery. The doctor announces the victim, who says their final goodbyes to the rest of the family, complete with all the sounds and smells of death by dysentery ("You Gotta Go").

Determined to reach Oregon as a family, the remaining members drag the body across the border, and are amazed when the victim comes back to life thanks to the pure Oregon air (except in the case of Daughter and Mother, who were only pretending to be dead). Grandpa discovers his million-dollar bill in his pocket that the lobsters returned to him, and shares his fortune with his family. To celebrate, Son finally convinces the family to help realize his dream of skinny dipping ("Naked In A Lake").

Development[]

The show was announced alongside The Trail to Oregon! as part of StarKid's 2014 Summer Season on April 9, 2014 in the season announcement trailer.[1] The show ran for a total of 24 performances, and was performed in repertory with Ani: A Parody.

The musical had a limited run at the Cherry Lane Theatre off-Broadway in New York City from May 26–31, 2015, running for eight performances.[2][3] The original Chicago cast returned for this production.[4] This marks the first time a StarKid show has received a full production in New York City.

The musical was also performed at The Other Palace off West End as part of their Edinburgh preview performances by the University of Southampton's touring theatrical group, Gone Rogue. This was followed by a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from the August 13th-25th 2018.[5]

Cast[]

Actor (*) Character
Jaime Lyn Beatty Daughter
Darla
General Store Guy's Wife
Animal
Jeff Blim Father
Father Buffalo
Corey Dorris Grandpa
Cletus Jones
Fire
Animal
Lauren Lopez Son
Fire
Animal
Joey Richter McDoon
Citizens
General Store Guy
Baby Buffalo
Owner
Cornwallis
Doctor
Animal
Rachael Soglin Mother
Mother Buffalo
Animal

(*) Bold names denote the actor's onstage Starkid debut

Band[]

Name Position
Clark Baxtresser Keyboard 1/Vocals
Pierce Siebers Keyboard 2/Vocals
Max Evrard Keyboard 3/Banjo
Corey Richardson Guitar
Mason Cormie Bass
Nick Kabat Drums

Creative Team[]

Name Position
Nick Lang Book
Director
Costume Design
Camera Operator
Video Editor
Matt Lang Book
Camera Operator
Jeff Blim Book
Music and Lyrics
Music Direction
Brian Holden Additional Writing
Drew DeFour Additional Music
Clark Baxtresser Music Direction
Pierce Siebers
Katie Spelman Choreography
Jen Lang Set Design
Teia Smith
Sarah Petty Lighting Design
Production Manager
Mark Swiderski Sound Design
Sound Editor
Ruby Summers Stage Manager
Jess Dumbroff Assistant Stage Manager
Julia Albain Associate Producer
Tony Pisaneschi Camera Operators
Eric Kahn Gale

Songs[]

Act 1 Song Sung By Duration
Gone to Oregon Father, Mother, Grandpa, Daughter and Son 5:59
Independence Citizen, General Store Guy, Horny Ox and Company 4:57
The Grind Father, Mother, Grandpa, Daughter and Son 3:51
Pays to Be an Animal Grandpa, Daughter, Son and Baby Buffalo 3:55
When the World's at Stake Mother 4:04
Dysentery World Father and Company 2:10
Wagon on Fire McDoon, Cletus Jones and Company 2:15
Act 2 Lost Without You Daughter 3:40
When the World's at Stake (Reprise) Father 1:53
Speedrun Father, Mother, Grandpa and Son 2:02
Caulk the Wagon McDoon, Cletus Jones and Company 2:37
You Gotta Go Father, Mother, Grandpa, Daughter or Son 3:11
Naked in a Lake Company 4:20

Trivia[]

  • In the YouTube version, the family is given the last name, "Dikrats". This is a reference to the team itself, as Dikrats is just Starkid backwards. It also worth noting that this joke was done before during the Apocalyptour.
  • In a special ending, the Ox died one night, asking for a last kiss and confessing his love to the son.
  • The deleted songs Tie That Wagon and Bratty Little Boys were performed at Unsung Starkid at Stage 773
  • A full list of all of the names chosen during the show's run can be found here.
  • There were many mishaps during the show, including:
    • Joey forgetting a whole stanza of the Patter Song "Independence" and either replacing it with "ho-ho-ho-ho" or just dancing in awkward silence, which then took away context from the line "OX LIKE ME", making it even funnier.
    • Corey Dorris' beard coming off during "Sometimes It Pays to be an Animal" leading to him frantically trying to get it back on begging the kids "Don't tell nobody!" and Jaime Lyn Beatty commenting, "This family sure has a lot of secrets!"
    • Jeff forgetting to wear his long underwear under his clothes in one show, leading to him almost stripping onstage during "Naked In A Lake".
    • During the marathon shoot of all the possible Multiple Endings for the YouTube version of the show — which were still in front of a live audience — at one point Joey came back onstage as the Doctor instead of the Ox during the intro to "Naked in a Lake", prompting him to exclaim "I didn't know we were going to the end!"
    • An intentional prank, where instead of Rachael Soglin as the Mother seductively approaching the Father giving her final line of the play, "Come on, honey, the water's just right" the Ox does it, causing Jeff to recoil in horror.
    • A minor but somehow hilarious one in the YouTube version of the show, where McDoon flings a bucket offstage at the end of "Caulk Your Wagon" and it apparently accidentally rolls down a set of stairs, audibly, for an uncomfortably long time. Prompts him to casually remark, "Didn't know there was a ridge there".
  • The Trail To Oregon! holds the record for the smallest cast in a full StarKid show, at six actors.

References[]

Team StarKid Musicals
A Very Potter Musical
2009
A Very Potter Sequel
2010
A Very Potter Senior Year
2012
Me and My Dick
2009
Starship
2011
Holy Musical B@man!
2012
Twisted
2013
Ani: A Parody
2014
The Trail to Oregon!
2014
Firebringer
2016
The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals
2018
Black Friday
2019
Nerdy Prudes Must Die
2023
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