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jackie-talks-about-starkid · 4 years

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A Very Potter Sequel (Rewatch #3, 9/23/2020)

YouTube publish date: July 22, 2010 [three years and a day from the book release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]

Number of views on date of rewatch: 4, 850, 972

Original Performance Run: May 14-16, 2010

Ticket price: Free! And available via email reservations! (because of parody-legality things) [x]

Director: Matt Lang

Music and Lyrics: Darren Criss

Book: Brian Holden, Matt Lang, and Nick Lang

Cast album price and availability: $9.99, on Bandcamp (x) and iTunes

Release date: 8/3/2010

Parody or original: a very original sequel parody (parodies Sorcerer’s Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix specifically while incorporating other elements of the Potter books, movies, and various other pop culture references)

Main cast and characters

Harry - Darren Criss

Ron - Joey Richter

Hermione - Bonnie Grueson

Draco - Lauren Lopez

Snape - Joe Moses

Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders

Umbridge - Joe Walker

Lupin - Brian Holden

Sirius - Nicholas Straus

Lucius Malfoy - Tyler Brunsman

Yaxley - Corey Dorris

Musical numbers

Act I

*all music and lyrics by Darren Criss

“Not Over Yet” Characters: Lucius, Yaxley, and Death Eaters

“Harry Freakin’ Potter” Characters: Ron Weasley, Rita Skeeter, Harry, and Hogwarts Students

“To Have A Home” Characters: Harry

“Hermione Can’t Draw/Lupin Can’t Sing” Characters: Harry and Hogwarts Students

“The Coolest Girl” Characters: Hermione

“Gettin’ Along” Characters: Dumbledore and Umbridge

“Let The Games Begin” Characters: Company

“Those Voices” Characters: Harry, Sirius, James, and Lily

Act II

“Guys Like Potter” Characters: Lucius and Snape

“Stutter” Characters: Umbridge

“No Way” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco

“Days of Summer/Back to Hogwarts” Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Company

Notable Notes:

The entire filmed version of AVPS premiered at the Harry Potter convention, Infinitus, which is one of (if not, the first) convention that StarKid officially attended as guests

A Very Starkid Album, which includes many songs from AVPS as well as the Darren Criss solo versions of “Ready to Go” and “Even Though” from Me and My Dick, debuted as #14 on iTunes Top Pop Album charts when it was released, earning a spot higher than Glee and Lady Gaga, whose albums were placed at #31 and #29, respectively (x)

Cultural Context: 2010

Hurt Locker wins Best Film at the Critics’ Choice Awards

The Winter Olympics happen in Vancouver

Matt Smith has his first appearance as the 11th Doctor on Doctor Who

Iron Man 2 opens on April 26th

One Direction is formed on X Factor

California’s Prop 8, banning same-sex marriage in California, is overturned

The global outbreak of the Swine Flu is still ongoing

Content Analysis:

There are a two things that stuck with me the most while watching AVPS for the umpteenth time that I could not stop thinking about:

1. each character portrayed in the show shows off each actor’s comedic strengths perfectly, and

2. despite not every single creative team member having a musical theatre specific formal education, growing up in and around musical theatre made the team more aware of the intrinsic musical theatre characteristics and formulas that aid a work like this in its success.

The first point should be somewhat obvious to those who have watched the show and are fans of the original source content, both book and movie universes. I cannot sing the praises of Lauren Lopez and Joey Richter’s comedic timing enough! I have no words for how incredible their performances are. Darren Criss’ performance is charming as always. Joe Walker as Umbridge is absolutely hilarious - StarKid’s comfortability with performing in drag is something I really admire that not a lot of productions can successfully pull off. I’d like to give a special nod to Tyler Brunsman as Lucius Malfoy who honored Lopez’s physicality as Draco perfectly while still making the overdramatic poses and gestures a trait that is the character’s own. Overall, 10/10 love the performances.

Now for the music. Darren Criss has an extensive background in musical theatre and theatre in general, so it isn’t surprising that he was able to make music that worked so well for a musical that he helped create. However, there are certain things about musical theatre that a person can’t learn via formal education and experience in professional settings. A lot of musical theatre (I’d say all of it, but that wouldn’t be giving professionals enough credit) is simply trial and error. While the loose idea of book-and-lyric/dialogue, song, and dance musical theatre has existed for over one hundred and fifty years (historians often attribute the first musical to The Black Crook which debuted in New York City in 1866), the modern-day formula for musical theatre was perfected, though by all means not invented, by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the 1940s with Oklahoma! They are often credited for creating the traditional musical theatre plot formula and song types that were used almost exclusively in the Golden Age of musical theatre in the 1950s, and are still commonly seen today, even with more experimental and non-traditional pieces.

Like how the Hero’s Journey in literature is so commonly used and reused over and over in different mediums and genres, even in theatre, there are certain types of songs that are traditionally used for servicing a musical’s plot and character development. A classic example of this would be the “I Want” song, such as ‘The Wizard and I’ from Wicked or ‘Something’s Coming’ in West Side Story. In A Very Potter Sequel, the “I Want” song is ‘To Have A Home’. Another common song trope in large cast musicals with one specific lead is something I like to call the “Hero’s Welcome” song, though I’m not sure if that phrase is the proper term for what I’m talking about. An example of this type of song is ‘My Shot’ from Hamilton or, in this case, ‘Harry Freakin’ Potter’. A personal favorite of mine is the “Jilted Lovers” song, like ‘Take Back Your Mink’ from Guys and Dolls and ‘Stutter’, from this show.

Anyone who is familiar with musicals, and particularly musical comedies, would recognize these kinds of songs and the roles that they serve in their specific productions, but the reason why it’s so hard to write successful musicals is because not every song a person writes for a specific part of a show fits the rights tone or follows the more traditional type of song seen in previous musicals that follow a similar plot structure of character introduction, conflict introduction, rising action, climax, and resolution (with a happy ending for a musical comedy). Yet Darren Criss, who was in his early twenties at the time, executes it so very well.

Even in the character performances, actors use very specific gestures and intonations when delivering a line or performing an action that the audience immediately knows the intentions of, because that delivery is so commonly used in whatever instance is being performed. One that immediately comes to mind is the scene in which Umbridge discusses the dorm rules with the girls. While explaining the cruel and unfair treatment the world gives for girls who aren’t as pretty and perfect as Cho Chang, Umbridge says,

“Because that’s just the way the world works for frumpy little turds like us! I mean…

*Umbridge stiffens with realization, then turns her neck in a very jilted fashion towards the girls*

Like you”

It’s the neck action that does it for me. I don’t know how or when that performative gesture became a physical symbol indicative of aggressive mental instability, but the media consumer inside of me knows that gesture is what is meant to be done at that moment in time to convey the threat Umbridge represents. And that’s what makes the comedy of StarKid, and the comedy in this production work so well for me. The cast and creative team just get what it means to perform something for an audience, and particularly an audience of fans. And it’s definitely because the cast and creative team are such adamant fans themselves.

#@teamstarkid #team starkid #starkid productions #starkid musicals #starkid #for my independent study #a very potter sequel #a very potter series #a very potter trilogy #avps #musical theatre #musicals

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