A Very Potter Musical Review

To a die-hard fan of Harry Potter, the very mention of the series brings an indescribable thrill. Be it enthusiastic praise or scathing contempt, every casual reference to Harry and his world brightens our day. So when A Very Potter Musical appeared online, it was like Voldemort had been defeated all over again. The fan-made musical parody of the Harry Potter books pays a solid tribute to the series we love so much, while remaining light-hearted and original, with well-chosen mockery of things every honest Potter fan has criticized about JK Rowling’s universe.

The two-act, three-hour play was written, directed, produced, and starred in by students of the University of Michigan, who do an incredible job of capturing the magic of Hogwarts without taking themselves too seriously. The play combines elements of all seven of Rowling’s books into a spectacular new story, focusing comically on the relationship between Lord Voldemort and Professor Quirrel, whose undeniable “bromance” provides laugh after laugh. The teenage romances blossoming between Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny are just over-the-top enough to make us laugh while still staying true to the characters and the original story.

A Very Potter Musical opens with the catchy and hilarious “Get Back to Hogwarts,” a song with unforgettable and hooking lyrics like “There’s no way anyone’s going to die this year,” which immediately plant a grin on any Potter enthusiast’s face. We are introduced to Harry, a guitar-playing and super-cool twelve year old, and his best friend Ron, who is awkward and gangly and super-cool by association. We meet Malfoy, played by a girl and obsessed with going to Mars to attend the wizarding school Pig Farts, and Professor Snape, who is delightfully diabolical and simply unable to figure out exactly what a Hufflepuff is.

The amateur performers in the musical do an incredible job. Joe Walker manages to make Voldemort, the most evil wizard of all time, endearing and even sympathetic. “You think killing people will make them like you,” he laments, “But it just makes them dead.” Darren Criss gives Harry Potter an unforgettable and completely believable personality, saving himself from the most fearsome dragon of all time by singing it a song and smiling his charming smile. The songs, while obviously less than professional, are sung with unabashed commitment by the actors, and never fail to make us want to giggle and swoon in delight.

Dumbledore is a huge High School Musical fan and Voldemort makes a poster of Zach Efron into a horcrux, while the students complain about missing “Wizards of Waverly Place,” and Harry compares his life to the Spiderman movies. This hilarious integration of real-life pop culture into Rowling’s Harry Potter universe tops off an already clever satire of the Harry Potter series and allows the play to explore the serious side of the series without making the audience uncomfortable.

A Very Potter Musical is a delightful satirical interpretation of a story millions of people adore. It captures and honours everything that fans love about Harry Potter, while making fun of everything just enough to make us curl over in mirth and not take offense. The music is catchy and well-timed, and the acting is absolutely perfect to satisfy the thirst of all the Potter fans who thought the series had nothing left to offer them.