The choice to use Quirrell got me thinking about the book villains and how much I didn't like Barty Crouch Jr. as the antagonist of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
AVPM dumps a villain from book 1 right into the plot of book 4 and the weird thing is, nothing changes. In the musical, Quirrell takes over the role that Barty Crouch Jr. plays in the book, and in my opinion, he does a better job. Quirrell is just a much more interesting character, especially in his final conversation with Harry at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:
"I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..." (Quirrell, 291)In contrast, it seemed to me Barty Crouch Jr.'s main role was giving us a more clear picture of his father, as we see at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:
"The Dark Lord and I," said Moody, and he looked completely insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, "have much in common. Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers...very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers And both of us had the pleasure...the very great pleasure...of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!" (678)I am beginning to think we could've done without Barty Crouch Jr. entirely. I'd love to hear your defenses of Barty Crouch Jr. Change my mind if you can, because for now, I'm thinking AVPM was on to something by replacing him.
Join me tomorrow for my next Harry Potter themed A-Z post. B is for...Butterbeer!
Hmmm, I don't know if I have any defence, per se - but I just see him (in the movies at least ... it's been a while now since I read the books) as totally insane. He's not so much evil as off his rocker. But the actor does a great job of making him look both evil and insane.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, he is quite fun just as that completely insane character...definitely something in that! :)
DeleteI had never heard of AVPM! Sounds great! Does it have JK's blessing? Great theme for the month, Michelle. Goid luck with the challenge.
ReplyDeleteGood not goid! :-)
DeleteHi! I guess I didn't realize it wasn't as widespread (it was performed in Michigan, where I'm from, but it's available on youtube). I don't know if Rowling has seen it or not. It's a humorous take on the books, so as long as you're okay with that going in to it, it's great fun! I recommend highly if yuo're interested in the Harry Potter universe.
DeleteI'd probably be aware of the musical if I was a fan. Seen a couple of the movies on tv, but beyond that I missed the boat, Michelle. I saw the first movie in the cinema in my mid-20s and I was disappointed. Wrong demographic! You know? But I do like looking up the plot summaries, checking out all the Potter pop culture. I'm not NOT a fan. I liked a couple of the later movies. If you read book reviews in the literary supplements, you can't overlook or dismiss that stuff as kids' fiction in the Culture section. (I sound like a literary purist, but you've seen my blog!) I'll be back. I like the Butterbeer experiment.
DeleteThanks for the AVPM review! This makes me want to skip it. I had a big enough problem with the seventh movie (both parts...AAAARGH CAMPING SCENE)... was hoping they'd split book 6 in half since there was so much more stuff happening in book 6.
ReplyDeleteIn the middle of the 7th movie... yes, I was the one who screamed, "NOOOOOOOooooooooo!" When Harry dumped the wand into the ravine.
Yes, that was me.
I am unashamed and quite willing to admit it. ;)
It's a humorous take on the books and the plot is derived from 4 mostly, so NO CAMPING! :)
DeleteThere's the tri-wizard tournament as the focus, but then also mentions of whether or not it's possible for a person to be a horcrux (eluding to 7).
If you love HP and are willing to have some fun with it, I definitely recommend watching it. For example, the dragons the other participants get to fight are "Puff the Magic Dragon, Figment the Imaginary Dragon, The Reluctant Dragon, And for you, Potter... the Hungarian Horntail, the most terrifying thing you'll ever see in your whole life!" (Act 1, Part 9)
So ... I'm a Harry Potter fan, but I had no idea A Very Potter Musical even existed! Sounds so weird to mix the storylines from different books ... and even weirder that it works!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel! It was performed at the University of Michigan and is free on Youtube! You should check it out if you like Harry Potter humor :)
DeleteI've all the books and watched the movies, but had no idea there was a musical. :) Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI definitely recommend it! But fair warning, the songs will get stuck in your head!
DeleteIf he's a character that divided audiences it makes sense to take him out. Based on your review I would like to see the play - I'm not that familiar with Harry Potter though I have seen the movies :) Reflex Reactions
ReplyDeleteYou should check it out! There's a link at the beginning of this blog :)
DeleteI loved (and still do, really) the HP Universe. I do agree that bits and pieces could have been left out of the series without it suffering too much. I never really put much thought, myself, into Barty Crouch, Jr., though.
ReplyDeleteAs far as AVPM... I do think that is one I'll skip. There is just too much good material over the course of the series to smoosh it into one show.
They did actually make a second musical, too, covering book 3 among others... It's mostly just a mashup of different parts of the stories rather than complete plot lines.
DeleteHi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteIt has been years since I've seen A Very Potter Musical, but I think it's important to point out to those who haven't seen it that it is in no way supposed to be a faithful representation of the books. It takes characters and basic plot points from the books, but changes anything at all that it wants in order to get a laugh and a song, even with the major references to "muggle" pop culture like the iconic "Zefron" poster. :-)
I too recommend it to anyone interested. Even if you're a skeptic, you'll probably be able to tell from that first 5 minute clip if it's for you or not!
-Michelle Vargo
Very well said, Michelle! :) I definitely should have mentioned that, but I never realized it wasn't well known outside of Michigan! Here even non-Potter fans know all about it!
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