Nerdy Prudes Must Die is a horror-comedy musical from StarKid Productions, the thirteenth show in the company's stage catalogue and part of its Hatchetfield series, following The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals and Black Friday and tying into the web series Nightmare Time. It follows a group of Hatchetfield High students who accidentally kill the school bully and are then stalked by his vengeful ghost, who returns to demand they summon ancient entities called the Lords in Black.
What is danced
The article gives a full plot synopsis and a list of song titles embedded in that synopsis (e.g. "Bully The Bully", "The Summoning", "Cool As I Think I Am"), but it contains no description of choreography, movement vocabulary, staging of numbers, or physical technique anywhere in the text. The "Musical numbers" and "Roles" sections of the source article are both empty of content. As a result nothing here can be verified about what is actually danced in the show, despite Lauren Lopez being credited as choreographer on our record.
Context
The article situates the show within StarKid Productions' long-running self-produced fringe/web-musical output and its Hatchetfield horror-comedy franchise, but says nothing about the wider dance or musical-theatre landscape the piece responds to, so no historical claim beyond company lineage can be drawn from it.
Staging history
The article records a single staged run, February 16 to 25, 2023, at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles, directed by Nick Lang, followed by a live recording uploaded to StarKid's YouTube channel on October 13, 2023. It notes the production was originally announced for 2020 and postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with StarKid at one point considering folding it into the Nightmare Time web series instead before ultimately staging it in full in 2023.
How to watch it
The article supports watching this as a plot- and song-driven horror-comedy musical rather than a dance work: attend to the song sequence and narrative escalation from teen comedy to slasher pastiche, since no staging or movement convention is described in the source.
Structure
- Act I · High School Is Killing MeHatchetfield High students express their hatred of school; Peter is caught helping Steph cheat.
- Act I · Literal MonsterStudents lament bully Max Jägerman, who vows to win over Grace after she rejects him.
- Act I · Cool As I Think I AmPeter wonders about his own coolness before being attacked by Max.
- Act I · Dirty GirlGrace fantasizes about Max in the bath and resolves to get revenge on him.
- Act I · Bully The BullyThe group lures Max to the haunted Waylon Place to scare him; he falls through the floor and dies.
- Act I · Bury The BullyGrace convinces the group to bury Max's body and hide the evidence.
- Act I · Go Go NighthawksThe students celebrate Max's disappearance ahead of a football game.
- Act I · Nerdy Prudes Must DieMax returns from the grave as a ghost and kills Richie in the locker room.
- Act II · Hatchet TownA curfew is imposed as the mayor stokes mutual suspicion among residents.
- Act II · Just For OnceRuth imagines being an actor before Max reappears and kills her.
- Act II · If I Loved YouPeter and Steph argue at a coffee shop, each accusing the other of hidden feelings.
- Act II · The SummoningThe teens summon the Lords in Black, whose leader Wiggly orders Steph to kill Peter.
- Act II · Cool As I Think I Am (Reprise)Peter convinces Steph to shoot him; Max stops the bullet before Grace intervenes.
- Act II · The Best Of YouWeeks later, life has returned to normal and Peter and Steph attend Homecoming together.
- Act II · Dirty Dudes Must DieGrace, disgusted after kissing her date, reveals a plan to kill "dirty dudes" with the Black Book.
Structure read from an encyclopaedia article, not from a libretto or score we hold. Confirm against a programme before treating the numbering as authoritative.