StarKid Productions, also known as Team StarKid, StarKidPotter or simply StarKid, is an American based theatre production company founded by Darren Criss, Brian Holden, Nick Lang, and Matt Lang at the University of Michigan in 2009. It is currently based in Los Angeles, California. They have produced several musicals, including A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, both of which parody the Harry Potter series. A third instalment was performed at LeakyCon 2012 on August 11, 2012 titled A Very Potter 3D: A Very Potter Senior Year. Non-Harry Potter productions of theirs include Little White Lie, Me and My Dick, Starship, Holy Musical B@man, Twisted, Trail To Oregon, Ani, Airport for Birds, Firebringer, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, and Black Friday.[1]
A Very Potter Musical[]
A Very Potter Musical was performed at the University of Michigan from 9-11 April, 2009. It was subsequently posted to the video upload site YouTube in late June, where it obtained millions of hits, being considered on the of 10 Best Viral Videos of 2009 by Entertainment Weekly. Unfortunately, after its initial release on YouTube it had to be taken down due to copyright complaints. But luckily after much discussion it was re-uploaded. Although the first part of the musical may have over 9 million views, these views tend to go down as the musical progresses. The final part of the musical (Act 2 Part 9) has received only 1.7 million views. A Very Potter Musical was written by
Matt Lang, Nick Lang, and Brian Holden, and features music and lyrics by A.J Holmes and Darren Criss. Originally, it was called Harry Potter: The Musical, and was posted on YouTube under that name. At first it was posted for the enjoyment of its cast, and their families and friends, but the public began to take notice of it. It was taken down, edited for content, they even wrote a song about how they didn't want to be sued, and then reposted under the name, A Very Potter Musical.
The musical starts out with Harry Potter (Darren Criss) singing about how he is sick and tired of living with the Dursleys and wants to go back to Hogwarts. Then Ron joins him and they use Floo Powder by flicking their arms and hands and chanting "floo powder power, floo powder, power!". They then sing about how they are going to do a lot of fun things this year and how no one's going to die. Then Hermione appears and tells them that they still need to study if they want to pass their O.W.Ls, this annoys Ron but Harry tells him that they are her only friend so they have to be nice to her. They continue singing about how they got to get back to Hogwarts when Ginny finds them and bugs Ron about how he was supposed to take her to get her robes fitted, Ron then introduces Harry to Ginny and Ginny is star struck. They hear music and Ginny asks what's going on, Ron explains that it's Cho Chang, the girl Harry has a crush on. Ginny goes over to Lavender Brown, thinking that she is Cho Chang, Lavender shouts at her and Cho Chang introduces herself. Then Cedric Diggory appears and announces his love for her and Harry gets annoyed, so they decide to leave. They then find Neville Longbottom being bullied by Crabbe and Goyle and Harry tells them to stop. Then Draco Malfoy appears and tries again to convince Harry to be his friend. Draco talks about how bad he thinks that Hogwarts has become, so he is happy that next year, he'll be going to Pigfarts. Then Draco sings about how he is going to be the best wizard. Then they go aboard the train and sing about how they cannot wait to get back to Hogwarts. They then set up all of the tables for the great hall and wait for Dumbledore. Dumbledore sings how he welcomes all of them to school and that there is a hidden swimming pool. He also goes over a few rules about Hogwarts, including that the students are not allowed to call him Albus unless they want to be expelled. Then they continue to sing, and Harry ends it with saying "Man, I'm glad I'm back."
A Very Potter Sequel[]
A Very Potter Sequel was performed at the University of Michigan from 14-16 May, 2010. A video of it was shown at the Harry Potter convention Infinitus, and was later uploaded to YouTube on 22 July. Within the first day of its upload, it achieved 160,000 views. The first part of this musical currently has over 2.5 million views, but like its predecessor, the views tend to go down as the musical progresses, the final part (Act 2 part 14) only having just over 1 million views. A Very Potter Sequel was written by Matt Lang, Nick Lang, and Brian Holden, and also features music and lyrics by Darren Criss. Though it is titled Very Potter Sequel it can be considered a prequel as it takes place in the year before the events of AVPM.
A Very Potter Senior Year[]
A Very Potter Senior Year, the third and final instalment in Starkid's Harry Potter Musical Parody Series, premiered at LeakyCon 2012 in Chicago. It was uncertain whether or not the show would happen due to Darren Criss's time constraints with the show Glee, but they were able to gather almost all of the previous Starkid actors, including Darren, for one performance. Due to the short amount of time they had to prepare they held a competition for fans to write songs for them. There were two winners but the songs were not used in the show.
Rather than a full show, it was a staged reading; the actors still had their books. In December 2012, Starkid released the free script and the soundtrack to the show on their online store. An announcement video says that the full read-through will be posted to YouTube in 2013. The soundtrack released did not feature Darren Criss as Harry, due to Glee contracts stating he is not allowed to sell his voice for any non-Glee related things, and instead had a replacement Harry. Evanna Lynch was also not featrued on the album. A single, released for free as to not break the terms of the Glee contract, called When I Was, was released featuring Darren Criss.
Cast[]
A Very Potter Musical[]
- Harry Potter - Darren Criss
- Ron Weasley - Joey Richter
- Hermione Granger - Bonnie Gruesen
- Draco Malfoy - Lauren Lopez
- Albus Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders
- Severus Snape - Joe Moses
- Lord Voldemort - Joe Walker
- Gregory Goyle/Rumbleroar - Jim Povolo
- Vincent Crabbe - Julia Albain
- Ginny Weasley - Jamie Lyn Beatty
- Cedric Diggory/Cornelius Fudge - Tyler Brunsman
- Neville Longbottom - Richard Campbell
- Bellatrix Lestrange - Britney Coleman
- Cho Chang - Devin Lytle
- Pansy Parkinson/Molly Weasley - Lily Marks
- Quirinus Quirrell - Brian Rosenthal
- Lavender Brown - Sango Tajima
A Very Potter Sequel[]
- Harry Potter - Darren Criss
- Ron Weasley - Joey Richter
- Hermione Granger - Bonnie Gruesen
- Draco Malfoy - Lauren Lopez
- Albus Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders
- Severus Snape - Joe Moses
- Dolores Umbridge - Joe Walker
- Gregory Goyle/Firenze/Bill Weasley/past Draco - Jim Povolo
- Vincent Crabbe/Percy Weasley/Candy Lady - Julia Albain
- Ginny Weasley/Rita Skeeter - Jamie Lyn Beatty
- Lucius Malfoy - Tyler Brunsman
- Neville Longbottom/past Hermione - Richard Campbell
- Dean Thomas - Britney Coleman
- Cho Chang/Charlie Weasley - Devin Lytle
- Molly Weasley - Lily Marks
- Seamus Finnigan/James Potter/past Ron/King's Cross employee - Brian Rosenthal
- Lavender Brown/George Weasley - Sango Tajima
- Yaxley - Corey Dorris
- Lily Potter/Luna Lovegood/Fred Weasley/Hedwig - Arielle Goldman
- Remus Lupin - Brian Holden
- Arthur Weasley/Sorty/Scarfy/Peter Pettigrew/Mama Umbridge - Nick Lang
- Sirius Black - Nicholas Joseph Strauss-Matathia
A Very Potter Senior Year[]
- Harry Potter - Darren Criss
- Ron Weasley - Joey Richter
- Tom Riddle - Joe Walker
- Hermione Granger - Meredith Stephien
- Draco Malfoy - Lauren Lopez
- Ginny Weasley - Jaime Lyn Beatty
- Albus Dumbledore - Dylan Saunders
- Gilderoy Lockhart - AJ Holmes
- Minerva McGonagall /Lucius Malfoy/Cedric Diggory - Tyler Brunsman
- Rubeus Hagrid/the Basilisk/Remus Lupin - Brian Holden
- Mad-Eye Moody/Barty Crouch Jr/Myrtle Warren/Tom Riddle Snr - Chris Allen
- Seamus Finnigan/James Potter/Quirinus Quirrell - Brian Rosenthal
- Dean Thomas/Bellatrix Lestrange - Britney Colemman
- Kingsley Shacklebolt - Corey Dorris
- Gregory Goyle - Jim Polovo
- Thoms Riddle /Snake - Nico Ager
- Aragog - Jeff Blim
- Candy Lady - Pat Brady
- Neville Longbottom/Frank Longbottom - Richard Campbell
- Colin Creevey/Wizard Cop/Percy Weasley - Brant Cox
- Mrs Cole - Denise Donovan
- Madam Pomfrey/The Grey Lady/Spider - Elona Finlay
- Wizard Cop - Eric Kahn Gale
- Spider - Arielle Goldman
- Narrator - Bob Joles
- Arthur Weasley/Sorty/Scarfy/Damian - Nick Lang
- Luna Lovegood - Evanna Lynch
- Cho Chang/Fred Weasley - Devin Lytle
- Molly Weasley/Pansy Parkinson - Lily Marks
- Fleur Delacour/the Basilisk/Albus Scarfy Potter/Spider - Alle-Faye Monka
- Nearly Headless Nick/Severus Snape - Joe Moses
- Bill Weasley/Gregory Goyle/Rumbleroar - Jim Povolo
- Lavender Brown/George Weasley/Spider/Wang Mu - Sango Tajima
External links[]
- Official website of StarKid Productions
- StarKidPotter, the official YouTube account of StarKid Productions
- A Very Potter Musical Series Wiki
- See this YouTube video