Jeff Turner, left, and Daniel Clarkson created “Potted Potter.”
Credit: Prince Music Theater
Where J.K. Rowling falls short, the guys of “Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience” come through.
“Obviously J.K. Rowling does very well with describing quidditch in the book, but it’s one of those thing that has to be seen to be believed,” says James Percy, co-star of “Potter Potter,” playing at the city’s Prince Music Theater through Jan. 5. “We’re the only show in the world that features a live game of quidditch. That really brings that big side of the Harry Potter world to life.”
Big and fast, we’ll say. Percy and co-star Delme Thomas condense the seven Harry Potter books into a cheeky and kinetic 70 minutes.
“It really becomes sort of similar to a ‘Rocky Horror’ type of experience, because we get a lot of fans dressed up and a lot of fans in costume at the show,” Percy says. “For those real hardcore Potter fans, it’s a meeting of the minds to show their love of the Potter world”‘
Unaware muggles are welcomed, too.
“We get a lot of people who might have never read a book and they come along with a completely open mind to it all,” Percy says.
“Potted Potter” was born in the U.K. when BBC children’s show hosts Daniel Clarkson and Jeff Turner were asked to create a 5-minute street show recapping the first five Potter books for fans in line awaiting the sixth book. The show grew from there and made its off-Broadway debut in 2012.
Percy and co-star Delme Thomas came on board for the American tour.
“It’s a parody so it’s a comic take on the storyline,” Thomas says. “So we do poke fun of it a little bit but we are big fans of the story. It’s from a place of love.”
Everybody loves Harry
There’s something universally appealing about a nerdy kid with glasses and a magic wand.
“The great thing about the story is that at its core is the classic tale of the underdog winning in the end,” says Thomas. “We see in the beginning the book his parents have died and he’s living with his auntie and uncle, he wears glasses, he’s got funny hair and a weird scar on his forehead. He’s kind of the weirdo that people don’t like and suddenly he becomes important in the wizarding world and it’s because of him that the world is saved in the end. Everybody gets that.”
‘Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience’
Through Jan. 5
Prince Music Theater
1412 Chestnut St.
$35-$85, 215-972-1000
www.princemusictheater.org
