A Very Potter Sequel (Day 1)

For my first daily musical, I decided to view "A Very Potter Sequel," by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes, better known as Team Starkid. This musical premiered on YouTube last summer, but I had been too busy to actually watch it in its entirety until now. I'll admit right off the bat that I'm a sucker for Team Starkid- I think they're talented and hilarious, and Darren Criss is one of my personal heroes for doing whatever the hell he wants and succeeding. He writes a parody musical around his friends and their goofy sketch comedy, it gets on YouTube, he gets famous, and becomes the actor-singer-songwriter star he always wanted to be, just by following his own admittedly ridiculous instincts. Now, he's a main character on Glee (Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend), and his songs sell more than any of the show's "stars" on Itunes.

As far as an actual review, here goes. There's a lot going on in "A Very Potter Sequel," most of it good, some of it great, but the only major problem is that there might be just a bit too much going on for its own good. The plot, in a nutshell: After telling a condensed version of the entire Harry Potter story in the first musical, "A Very Potter Musical," the plot has nowhere to go (a point lampshaded by Lucius Malfoy in the opening number). So, in order to prevent the overthrow of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Lucius, the right hand man of the late Dark Lord, uses the Time Turner to travel with his Death Eaters back in time to Year One of the Harry Potter series to prevent things from turning out the way they did. We thus follow Harry and his friends/entourage through a new plot cobbled together from the sub-plots of the Potter series, mainly focused on the rise to power of dictatorial teacher Dolores Umbridge.

The comedic strategy here is pretty much "anything goes." Since Starkid's biannual musicals are an "event" as much as a new work of theatre, their shows are often extremely long, and AVPS is no different- in fact, at four hours with intermission, it may be their longest. However, the speed at which scene after scene, joke after joke, fly by makes up for the extreme length, which probably felt much quicker live. Also, the authors are well-versed in the art of the brick joke. For those of you not familiar with the tropes of writing comedy, a brick joke is a joke that pays off twice- once immediately, and once later when least expected. Throwing a brick into the air is funny in itself. What is even funnier is when it comes down, often much later. If you think something is funny in Act 1, chances are you've only heard the set-up, and the real joke is just down the line.

The actors are fantastically game for this kind of show and its demands- most of them play multiple roles, with director/puppet designer Nick Lang playing eight of them himself, everyone from the Sorting Hat (and its life partner, the Scarf of Sexual Preference) to Peter Pettigrew, to Zac Efron... which makes more sense in context, I promise. Lead actor and songwriter Darren Criss has plenty of charisma and charm as a narcissistic, admittedly douchey version of Harry Potter, and even takes some well-received jabs at his real-life persona as a dorky-but-loveable singer who plays Disney songs on guitar. Lauren Lopez, the petite soprano who plays the breeches role of Draco Malfoy, has phenomenal comic timing and skill at slapstick physicality. Additionally, her ability to bring genuine pathos and vulnerability to one of the show's most ridiculous and unlikeable characters points her out to be a cut above her still-talented co-stars. Finally, once again, Criss's good friend Joe Walker steals the show. While last year, he was an overly-buff, sexually-confused Voldemort, whose biggest wish was not to overthrow the world, but to tap-dance, this year he appears (ostensibly) in drag, as Dolores Umbridge, reimagined as a nightmarish mix of Tennessee Williams Southern belle and John Travolta in "Hairspray." Grotesquely masculine and feminine at once, Walker's "Mama Umbridge" has the other characters constantly speculating as to her actual gender. A truly fearless performer, Walker chews the scenery like a pro, to the point where Mama Umbridge literally breaks off her own finger to prove her bloodlust.

Darren Criss and AJ Holmes have not changed TOO much as songwriters- no song in the show is as instantly catchy and genuinely heartfelt as "Not Alone," nor as emotionally rooted as "Missing You," though several come close. What they have done, however, is improve their sound, by employing several more musicians for a sound that is less garage-like than the two-to-three-piece band from "A Very Potter Musical." Also notable is the increased influence of Menken, Ashman and Rice, the composing team behind most of the Disney Renaissance musicals. As composer Criss is an admitted devotee of "Beauty and The Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," the song style crops up repeatedly in his works, most notably in the opening villain song, "Not Over Yet."

In summary, if you haven't seen AVPS yet, head to YouTube and watch it, but make sure that you've seen the original "A Very Potter Musical" first. Many of the jokes will make much more sense once you've seen the first musical, as a lot of the fun of this one is deconstructing the new character interpretations created in the first one. Fan of Harry Potter or hater, AVPS will surely convince you that it actually IS possible to write a sequel to a musical, and not make it suck. As a work of musical theatre, it is entertaining and fun, not a masterpiece by any means. But as a combination viral video, sketch comedy show, stage musical and yearly "event," it is a surefire success. Go Team Starkid!

A Very Potter Sequel: B+

LESSON FOR ACTORS: Know your genre and know your role. Acting may OFTEN be living realistically under imaginary circumstances, but in farce as extreme as this, sometimes you have to cut completely loose.

WARNING FOR ACTORS: Be wary of the lesson above. In a show with as many over-the-top characters and caricatures as this, some actors are going to be more commanding onstage than others. Actors like Joe Moses (Snape) and Dylan Saunders (Dumbledore) are wise enough to not try and upstage Joe Walker as Mama Umbridge during his/her big moments. When other characters DO attempt to take back the scene, they are massively overwhelmed.

LESSON FOR WRITERS: Trust your instincts and material. A parody musical sequel deconstruction of a musical viral video? On paper, it sounds ridiculous, even impossible. Sequels, in particular, are often called the only thing worse than vampires on the musical stage. However, if you do it right, it can work. If you want to write a work that people say is impossible or improbable, you go right ahead and do it. Prove them wrong- dare to fail gloriously, as my professor used to say!

WARNING FOR WRITERS: Watch your show's rhythm (its overall build, ebb and flow, rise and fall), as well as its tempo (the rhythm as it relates to individual scenes and their progressions one after another). AVPS is an extremely long show, so in its slowest moments, it can drag. Occasionally, fifteen minutes can pass between songs, which affects the rhythm relatively little, but slows the tempo to a halt. Be very aware of your book-to-music ratio.