This show is great. A definite must-see for any Potter fan, casual or obsessive.
And if you’re looking for a show to take your kids to see, this is the one. It’s perfect for them.
In fact, it’s perfect for anyone who has seen the films or read any bit of the books. You don’t
need to be a fanatic; this show will make you laugh even if you know nothing about Potter.
My experience started with RGW dragging me to see it, I was hesitant because I thought it
would be mean –
I’ve seen some parodies online and I think they’re mean-spirited and corrupt the core message
of the story.
However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. No – I was hugely, greatly surprised. This
show far exceeded my expectations! It was fantastic!
My new friends, Dan and Jeff (He’s Dan. And he’s Jeff) did an amazing job – and honestly, when
it comes to Potter, I am very hard to impress.
I was laughing before it even started Jeff emerged to stoically and without cracking a smile,
study Deathly Hallows right in front of the audience.
And I was impressed when Dan came out and shook hands with every person
in the audience before the show, thanking everyone for being there.
It was great. No one does that. It shows his moral fiber – 45 points to
Gryffindor!
It turns out they were commissioned to produce a street performance
recapping the first
5 books for those eager fans who stood ‘in queue’ for the sixth book in Britain.
Great. Now I’m jealous none of our booksellers or production companies (ahem, Warner
Brothers!) thought to be that awesome for us.
And if you’re looking for a show to take your kids to see, this is the one. It’s perfect for them.
In fact, it’s perfect for anyone who has seen the films or read any bit of the books. You don’t
need to be a fanatic; this show will make you laugh even if you know nothing about Potter.
My experience started with RGW dragging me to see it, I was hesitant because I thought it
would be mean –
I’ve seen some parodies online and I think they’re mean-spirited and corrupt the core message
of the story.
However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. No – I was hugely, greatly surprised. This
show far exceeded my expectations! It was fantastic!
My new friends, Dan and Jeff (He’s Dan. And he’s Jeff) did an amazing job – and honestly, when
it comes to Potter, I am very hard to impress.
I was laughing before it even started Jeff emerged to stoically and without cracking a smile,
study Deathly Hallows right in front of the audience.
And I was impressed when Dan came out and shook hands with every person
in the audience before the show, thanking everyone for being there.
It was great. No one does that. It shows his moral fiber – 45 points to
Gryffindor!
It turns out they were commissioned to produce a street performance
recapping the first
5 books for those eager fans who stood ‘in queue’ for the sixth book in Britain.
Great. Now I’m jealous none of our booksellers or production companies (ahem, Warner
Brothers!) thought to be that awesome for us.
Potted Potter is a seventy-minute love fest/parody to our beloved Harry Potter series (Don’t be
fooled by the title as we almost were — potted means condensed). It is written and performed
by two hilarious fans, actors Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner.
My courageous group, led by me -the stunning RGW- flanked by the all-powerful Rilian, two
pretty avid Harry Potter followers, and a Books and Wands admirer,
attended the show in its opening weekend. From the minute we sat
in our seats, even a half hour before the show began, we were
entertained. You are immediately confused by odd set pieces scattered
across the stage.
Jeff sits down on a toy train reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Dan goes around to each and every member of the audience and thanks you for
coming.
The show begins, and I swear you don’t stop laughing for seventy straight minutes.
Dan and Jeff recap all seven Harry Potter books, mixing props, costumes, imitations, technology,
and audience participation.
Then there is the abundance of flawless, impeccable quotes that every Potter fan needs to hear
immediately. For example, you may already be aware of my hatred of splitting the final book in
a series into two movies. Now, I have a quote to support it:
The best part about the show, I suspect, is that no two shows are alike. You could see the show
once a week and gain a new experience every time.
At our show alone, there were obvious jokes exclusive for our
performance, including some ad libbed cracks at an audience participant
who may have had too much sugar before volunteering to go on stage.
Tickets can be purchased on Telecharge.
If I can offer any advice, it would be to splurge for tickets in the section closer to the stage. The
entire section gets to play Quidditch while the areas in the back serve as your cheering section!!
Trust your fearless leaders — we promise you won’t regret it!
fooled by the title as we almost were — potted means condensed). It is written and performed
by two hilarious fans, actors Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner.
My courageous group, led by me -the stunning RGW- flanked by the all-powerful Rilian, two
pretty avid Harry Potter followers, and a Books and Wands admirer,
attended the show in its opening weekend. From the minute we sat
in our seats, even a half hour before the show began, we were
entertained. You are immediately confused by odd set pieces scattered
across the stage.
Jeff sits down on a toy train reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Dan goes around to each and every member of the audience and thanks you for
coming.
The show begins, and I swear you don’t stop laughing for seventy straight minutes.
Dan and Jeff recap all seven Harry Potter books, mixing props, costumes, imitations, technology,
and audience participation.
Then there is the abundance of flawless, impeccable quotes that every Potter fan needs to hear
immediately. For example, you may already be aware of my hatred of splitting the final book in
a series into two movies. Now, I have a quote to support it:
- Jeff: "There's a lot of camping in this book."
Dan: "Yes, I would make this book into two movies....one with ALL the camping, and
one with ALL the deaths!"
The best part about the show, I suspect, is that no two shows are alike. You could see the show
once a week and gain a new experience every time.
At our show alone, there were obvious jokes exclusive for our
performance, including some ad libbed cracks at an audience participant
who may have had too much sugar before volunteering to go on stage.
Tickets can be purchased on Telecharge.
If I can offer any advice, it would be to splurge for tickets in the section closer to the stage. The
entire section gets to play Quidditch while the areas in the back serve as your cheering section!!
Trust your fearless leaders — we promise you won’t regret it!
| Ril's Two Cents... |
| Potted Potter: The Review |
| Highlights |
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Here are some of the best highlights, in my opinion:
- This show has done something I’ve seen tried many times over...theater trying to make use
of multimedia (ie, video inserts and laser/graphics) and failing. Dan and Jeff and whoever
their technical team is did a great job, the best use of a video presentation I’ve ever seen –
and the Patronus was a great touch.
- The magical battle royale – I swear it was better than that mess in the movie.
- Dan and Jeff go all out, non-stop for 70 minutes. I was exhausted just watching them.
- The fact that this is live theater, living and breathing and growing and changing as you
watch. You participate and Dan and Jeff vibe off of the audience. Some jokes change, some
are added – right before your eyes. We had one or two of these and it was great. Original
and made you feel like you were part of something special.
- Such as... “snotting chocolate cake”. What you ask? You really had to be there, but there’s
a point when Dan had to eat cake and it was supposed to make a mess all over his face,
but I don’t know how hard he slammed it into his face or what he was aiming for but he
got it so far up his nose he couldn’t even breathe. It was pouring off his face and out of his
nose – it sounds gross, and it was, but it was also hilarious!
- Dan had to then leave the stage and obviously they lost whatever jokes were supposed to
come from the chocolate cake. But Jeff covered for him teasing him that it was much
warmer in NY than in London. Also, then the chocolate was on the floor for the rest of the
show and they had to step around it and kept on making jokes about it.
- Non-translate-able jokes and underestimating teachers. (That may have been exclusive to
our performance. And actually we might have had a boring audience who didn’t laugh or
cheer as much as they should have – for which I apologize to Dan and Jeff, cause I wanted
to stand and cheer the whole time.)
- We learned that ‘Potted’ means condensed. Silly Americans.
- You get to play Quidditch! Real live Quidditch! Now, I’m obsessed with it – I want to
play it all the time. I’m going to start my own semi-Pro league. Who’s with me?!
- The annoying kid behind me got picked to be Seeker and the only good thing about that
was that Dan and Jeff made fun of him/teased him – you know, in a loving, British sort of
way. That leads me to my next point...
- They are British! Real life British people – how does it get any better than that?!
- Here are some quotes just to give you an idea of it:
- During Quidditch, we were kind of not getting into it and then finally one dad
grabbed the ball and threw it. At the end of that round Dan said, “Nice to see some
of the dad’s waking up. (In a deep, growly voice) ‘I’ve got the ball. Now we’re gonna
win.’ (In a little kid voice) ‘Great, dad, can I have a go?’ (Deep voice) ‘No!’” Then he
mimed throwing it as hard as he could.
- About Book/Movie 6: “Skipping a lot of gratuitous teen snogging put in only to
rival Twilight.” Thank you, Dan and Jeff, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so!
- Jeff: “I know I said I wanted to be Harry and you got to be all these other characters,
but Harry’s so boring. He only escapes because all these other characters swoop in
with amazing bits of magic to save the day. And the only way to make Harry more
boring is to make it so he can’t move AND no one can see him!”
- The prophesy:
- Dan: “One of you will live! And one of you shall die!”
Jeff: “Yes, but which one of us will live?”
Dan: “Umm...One of you will live! And one of you shall
die!”
Jeff: “You don’t know, do you?”
- Dan: “You said Harry grows up. And I’m so much more up than you.”
- “Naughty Nagini.” At one point, Dan as Voldemort drags a stuffed snake (Nagini)
across the stage – he eventually tossed the snake at Jeff who was making fun of him
and the snake sailed right off the state into the audience. Mistake! But awesome live
theater. They made up for it in ad libbed jokes.
- During Quidditch, they called time and a father had to throw the ball back to Dan on
stage. It was a bad throw.
- Dan: You keep that up and I’ll switch you to Hufflepuff!
- At some point, during the retelling Dan had to switch back and forth between several
characters and was throwing on wigs, glasses and hats with lightning speed until one time
he ran past when he was supposed to be Harry saying something and just said, “I can’t
find the glasses!” He lost the prop.
- To show how crazy they get, Dan even broke the googly eye glasses he was wearing to
depict Dumbledore after he drank the potion in Book 6.
- They end with a song! Awesome. “I will not survive!” Really priceless!!
- It should have an extended run.
- I really want to see it again.
My one complaint? They didn’t have any merchandise to buy. Usually at Broadway shows you
can buy a program, a CD if it’s a musical, T-shirts, a Mary Poppins umbrella, etc.
I’d really like a shirt with my two new BFF’s on it.
And I have to publicly say to RGW: You were right, I was wrong. Thank you so much for taking
me to see Potted Potter. It was the best show I’ve seen in a long time.
All of our readers – Go see it NOW!
Potted Potter ...Be there! Or you don't know Potter!
can buy a program, a CD if it’s a musical, T-shirts, a Mary Poppins umbrella, etc.
I’d really like a shirt with my two new BFF’s on it.
And I have to publicly say to RGW: You were right, I was wrong. Thank you so much for taking
me to see Potted Potter. It was the best show I’ve seen in a long time.
All of our readers – Go see it NOW!
Potted Potter ...Be there! Or you don't know Potter!
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