Before I dive headfirst into this blog, allow me to make something abundantly clear. I love the Harry Potter books and, to a lesser extent, I love the Harry Potter films.

I wrote half my dissertation on Harry Potter, I possess one Potter hoody, two t-shirts, a Durmstrang knapsack and a shelf in my house is dedicated to Potter prop replicas.

I say all this because I suspect I may be ever so slightly biased in my opinion that the following clips of HP The Musical are 23 different kinds of awesome. I won’t try and sway you either way, I’ll just go straight to the video.

The musical was apparently written earlier this year by a group of American students and recent graduates though a non-profit theatre company. It was performed just five times over three days (I demand a UK tour!)

The songs were written by the chap who plays Harry (Darren Criss) and AJ Holmes who played piano in the show’s band. The script was written (or should I say “adapted for the stage” by Matt Lang (who also directed), Nick Lang and Brian Holden; all of whom should get Tony awards!

Ok, maybe not Tony awards but if nothing else, a mighty big pat on the back from the theatre community. An original and funny take on the Potter universe, catchy songs and the hilarious flue powder part made this a pleasure to watch on YouTube. I can only imagine how funny it must have been live.

One more thing, just to really demonstrate my Potter fanboydom, behold the shelf of wonders!

My shelf of shame/awesome

Weren’t the 90s a laugh? Flowerpot fellows Bill and Ben Gallagher were storming the pop charts with their own brand of recycled rock, Eric Cantona was popping his collar in the Old Trafford dojo and Men Behaving Badly was on the telly.

It was the rebirth of the Lads. Remember them? Laaadds; they had their own music, their own beer, their own magazines. Laaaadds. From this point on, in tribute, I shall be talking like a Laaaad…

Yeah, that Men Behaving Badly was on the box weren’t it. Yeah, that was all right. Just about a couple of geezers it was. Yeah, they lived in this flat, Tony and Gary. Anyway, Tony always had his eye on this tasty bit of stuff that lived upstairs. She was in Quadrophenia, I think. Phwoaarr!

Yeah, they were a solid couple of blokes, always drinking beer and smoking fags. Had an all right theme tune it did: dah dah dat dah dah dah dum dum daaah! Burp.

Okay, okay, that’s quite enough of that.

Well, news has it that after graduating from Badly Behaved Polytechnic, Neil Morrissey is about take on a serious acting role.

No, I’m not talking about Bob the Builder. I’m talking about Rain Man. Yep, Neil Morrissey is going to star as autistic savant Raymond Babbitt in the touring production of Rain Man. The part was initially made famous by Dustin Hoffman – he won an Oscar for his detailed and nuanced performance – and was recently reprised on stage by British character actor Adam Godley. Now it would appear that the honour has been bestowed upon lads’ mascot Neil Morrissey.

News of Morrissey’s casting may be doubly surprising to some as it was reported in The Daily Mirror last month that the star had quit show business to pursue his life-long ambition of running a pub.

It seems that commentators are calling this his swan song.

Then again, this could rejuvenate his career: look at Lenny Henry. He took to serious acting like a, like a… swan to water.

I wonder if there are any other sitcom actors that could make it in more serious roles? Any ideas? Personally, I’d like to see Nicholas Lyndhurst play Stanley Kowalski from Streetcar Named Desire; or what about Morrissey’s old stable-mate Martin Clunes in Macbeth.

Magic.

There, I got through the whole blog and I didn’t mention Amanda Holden once.

Damn.

Celebrities in Shakespeare, it seems, is a pretty big deal.

Reactions to a celeb being cast in any Shakespearean role are always fascinating. Some people hardly react at all because they’d see the production either way. Others delight in their favourite TV personalities having a crack at “proper” acting, while some do that baffling outrage thing, all harsh words and infuriatingly superior attitudes.

We could spend forever poring over every last little comment regarding celebs in Shakespeare but honestly, I can’t be bothered. I won’t be seeing the Donmar’s Hamlet, not because I don’t think Jude Law could play the lead convincingly but because I’ve had my fill of Shakespearean melancholy.

This summer I’m far more interested in a considerably lower-profile production, Shakespeare’s Globe’s touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Firstly, it’s my favourite Shakespearean piece, secondly, it’s actually fun!

We’ve had Hamlet coming out of our ears recently and Othello starring Lenny Henry is on its way to London. Othello is hardly the most upbeat story, interesting, but not fun by any stretch of the imagination. Not to say I won’t be seeing Othello, I just fancy a break from the heavy stuff.

It’s summer, it’s beautiful outside and Shakespeare’s Globe’s travelling production will be performed outdoors in the balmy summer evening air. It can’t only be me who sees this as a far more appropriate way to perform Shakespeare in these few precious sunny weeks?

The time for gloomy Danish castles and the vengeful intentions of jealous lovers is surely winter?

Don’t get me wrong I’m all for a bit of gloom and doom on stage but this is England and we get what, 16 weeks of nice weather a year? What better way to celebrate those fleeting weeks than getting outdoors with a picnic and watching the antics of the king and queen of fairies, a troop of bumbling actors and of course, a pair of lovers.

I implore you, try and make it to see this tour. You’ll not regret it.

Tour dates:

Bristol, Ashton Court: 23–28 June

Maidstone, Leeds Castle: 30 June–5 July

West Sussex, Parnham House:
 7 July

London, Shakespeare’s Globe: 8–11 July

East Sussex, Herstmonceux Castle: 13-14 July

Taunton, Hestercombe Gardens: 15–18 July

Cornwall, Minack Theatre: 20–24 July

Essex, Hedingham Castle: 27-28 July

Poland, Gdansk: 
31 July–6 August

Austria, Art Carnuntum Festival: 8-9 August

Canterbury, St Augustine’s Abbey: 2-16 August

Yorkshire, Ripon, Newby Hall: 
18-19 August

Yorkshire, Richmond, Georgian Theatre: 
20-23 August

Cambridge, Emmanuel College: 25-30 August

Glamorgan, St Donats: 31 August

Those virtually thumbing through the online copy of The Times this morning may have seen the news that playwright Mark Ravenhill’s latest Edinburgh project has a little talent show twist.

This is what was going on in my dusty brain-box as I read the article:
SCENE ONE: (Grainy black and white footage: A plain-looking office. Our hero [...]

What is it about depressive Dane princes with Oedipal complexes and unnecessary fuss? Whenever there’s a high profile production of Hamlet, off-stage drama seems to spring up all around.
The Donmar’s production of Hamlet starring Jude Law has been attracting harsh words since its inception in 2007. The Guardian’s Andrew Dickson suggested that Law’s casting was [...]

As some of you may know, we went to see Sister Act the the London Palladium this week, it was superb and a review from myself and one from Jon Lane (who hates musicals) are available on the main site. We had a lot of fun both at the show and in our costumed wanderings [...]

JM Barrie’s timeless story is going to be staged in Kensington Gardens, with rather space-age special effects.
Performed in a huge tent, visitors to the show will be immersed in a colourful world of images five times’ bigger than those at the puny IMAX cinema. With un-matched clarity and definition, the team behind the animations [...]

Look around, apart from fairly limply received new musicals like Shout!, or the Craig Revel Horwood revival of Sunset Boulevard, some really big shows are winding down.

With Andrew Lloyd Webber postponing the opening of his long-awaited sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, the Adelphi Theatre finds itself with an extra gap between shows. So, the question is: what would you like to see there to fill it?
It’s all got something to do with the recording of the [...]

It won Oscars, smashed box offices the world over, and created a couple of brand new movie stars; and now Slumdog Millionaire is heading for Broadway.
The adaptation is going to be fast-tracked for development for the stage, and the hope is to have the production ready for 2012.
Slumdog was full of catchy songs and high-energy [...]