Web Series Spotlight: Muzzled the Musical

Back in June 2014, a new Kickstarter campaign got underway for a unique web series called Muzzled the Musical that would bring together a lot of familiar web series personalities along with a couple of well-known TV actors.

Muzzled the Musical is set in the Royal Kingdom of Serenadia, where singing is power. With the right song, you can bring peace to the downtrodden, bake a delicious birthday cake…even (gasp!) kill. [This is not your typical happily ever after fairytale story].

The Golden King decreed that all Blackhearts must bear the Muzzle – a magic tattoo that punishes those who try to sing.

You see Serenadia was once ravaged by years of bloody musical warfare waged between the Gold King and the Black Matron; but 20 years after the King’s baritone restored peace to the land, the Matron’s teen daughter Malfalia (who is known as Malf to her friends) is determined to shed her Muzzle and sing.

Malf sneaks off to meet her idol, Princess Ambrosia only to find out that her idol cruelly tricks her into triggering her Muzzle, leaving Malf screaming in pain. Being her mother’s daughter, though, Malf sings through the pain, shatters her Muzzle and vows revenge, masquerading as a princess to infiltrate and destroy the royal society.

In less than a month’s time, the Kickstarter campaign reached its goal, earning over $50,000 for the ambitious project. By the start of the new year, filming started on the production, getting done very quickly over the span of five full days.

The cast members include:

Ashly Burch (star and co-writer of Hey Ash, Watcha Playin? and School of Thrones) stars as Malfalia;

Ashley Clements (lead star of the Emmy Award winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries) stars as Princess Ambrosia;

Mary Kate Wiles and Maxwell Glick (Lydia Bennett and Mr. Collins on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries respectively) play Malfalia’s best and only friend Hadey and Damon. Hadey is the daughter of the Lord of the Underworld while Damon is a good-hearted if mischievous half-demon.

Joey Richter (star of several StarKid Productions and veteran of the musical stage) stars as Krampus, once the Black Matron’s deadliest lieutenant, but is now the indentured servant of the Golden King;

Brendan Bradley (co-star of Frankenstein MD and School of Thrones) stars as Prince Dashing, a cocky teen prince from a faraway kingdom and is “arm candy” to Princess Ambrosia;

Kevin Sorbo (of Hercules and Andromeda fame) stars as the Golden King, who rules from his penthouse high above the Kingdom and is utterly wrapped around the little finger of his daughter Ambrosia;

Juliet Landau (of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame) stars as the Black Matron, the legendary Blackheart and single working mother who now serves the Golden King by fitting all newly-registered Blackhearts with Muzzles;

Jeff Lewis (co-star of the ultra-hit web series The Guild) stars as Captain Hook, a newly registered Blackheart and love interest for the Black Matron.

The rest of the cast known as “Ambrosia’s Badass Party Princess Entourage” includes:

Erin Heft (Radio Disney’s High School Musical)
Lauren Lopez (Team StarKid)
Chelsey Clime (FunnyorDie.com)
Lisa Foiles (Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy show All That)
Kenley Shea (singer on the TV show “The Singing Bee”)
Brittany and Brianna Winner (known as The Winner Twins, the national bestselling science fiction authors)

The team behind the scenes of Muzzled the Musical include the following:

Matthew Mercer (Co-Creator and Producer) – Matthew is the co-creator and director of the web series There Will Be Brawl and co-creator and co-director of the web series School of Thrones.

Jason Charles Miller (Music Producer, Songwriter and Composer) – The frontman for the group Godhead, he co-wrote one of the songs from the Disney Channel’s Teen Beach Movie and his music has been featured in The Guild, True Blood and Queen of the Damned.

Zach Grafton (Co-Creator and Writer) – He is the creator of the web series School of Thrones.

Sean Becker (Director) – He is the director of The Guild, The Flog and Hench (among others).

Kial Natale (Visual Effects) – He currently run the YouTube Channel “Megasteakman” and is a multi-award winning filmmaker.

Jan-Michael Losada (Director of Photography) – He is a visual artist and business man with a long list of credits.

Alex Creswick (Producer) – She is an independent producer and Director of Development at Bifrost Pictures.

Jennifer Zhang (Producer) – She produces viral video game parody videos, comic book fan films and is a web personality as the host and producer of Jace Hall’s Twin Galaxies Live.

It has taken quite a bit of time, but the first episode of Muzzled the Musical finally debuted online on October 26 and you can watch it below:

You can follow Muzzled the Musical at Facebook here and follow them at Twitter here (@MuzzledMusical). You can also get the web series soundtrack at iTunes here.

Here are the main cast members of Muzzled the Musical: