Friday, June 3, 2011

A Very Potter Musical: Goin' Back to Hogwarts






In my post about 'Potted Potter' my intention was not to deny the existence of 'A Very Potter Musical' or its sequel but just to say that a musical version about Harry Potter has not been developed or presented for Broadway or London's West End.

To satisfy those who emailed soon after writing about 'Potted', this post is to declare the existence of 'A Very Potter Musical'. Who knows? There just might be a producer brave enough to invest in development of the idea but it would likely take a huge amount of effort to ask 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling to agree.  

After several million views on YouTube, it's unlikely the news of this Harry Potter musical parody would be startling. After all 'A Very Potter Musical' was originally called 'Harry Potter: The Musical' when it was first performed in 2009 at the University of Michigan. When a video of the the musical was posted on YouTube the same year, the video was removed for fear of a lawsuit. The video was reposted and rechristened under its 'A Very Potter' name. The video went viral leading to Entertainment Weekly declaring the show one of ten best viral videos of the year.


Elements, characters and plot points from the various books and movies appear in the parody. The musical tells about Harry Potter's return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as he and his classmates experience feelings of adolescence while the dark wizard Voldemort returns from the dead to take revenge on 'the boy who lived'.

A creation of StarKid Productions, a student-created theatre production group formed in Ann Arbor Michigan, the musical also offered the introduction of Darren Criss to the masses in the title role. His guest stint on the television musical "Glee" and his Billboard #1 recording of "Teenage Dream" from the show helped to secure him a regular role on the series and mass of new fans. Criss with A.J. Holmes composed the music and lyrics for 'A Very Potter Musical'. The book is by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden. The popularity of the musical proved durable enough to warrant 'A Very Potter Sequel' in 2010.

In case you are not one of millions who have already viewed a sample of the show, a video is posted above of the song "Goin' Back to Hogwarts". Visit the StarKid YouTube home page to see the entire show comprised of 23 videos. 

A cast recording of 'A Very Potter Musical' and 'A Very Potter Sequel' is available for download on the StarKid website.

(all images: StarKid Productions)

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