“Hermione! The smartest witch name I ever heard, Hermione!”
That could be something that we will all sing together, should this latest rumor prove to be true. In an article blazing with the title “Exclusive Hogwarts to Hit West End With Wizard Show,” UK newspaper the Sunday Mirror is reporting today that there plans afoot to stage a musical based on the beloved Harry Potter series. Claiming that “casting agents have been told to start looking for a young lad to play Potter in an all-singing, all-dancing version of J.K. Rowling’s magic at Hogwarts,” the article also goes on to state that ‘producers are already working on script ideas and hope to bring the musical to London’s West End next year…The plan is for spectacular flying scenes, live Quidditch and big showdowns with Voldemort.”
Also tagged at the end of the story is this following about author J.K. Rowling possibly writing another book for the Comic Relief Charity, similar to what she did with Harry’s Schoolbooks (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Quidditch Through the Ages”).
States the paper:
J.K. ROWLING is expected to write a special Harry Potter book in aid of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day in 2009.
While all of this sounds very exciting indeed (visions of a dancing Voldemort, and a singing Lucius Malfoy aside), please keep this very much in the rumor category for now. We are working to confirm these things and will update with more as soon as we can.
I really, desperately hope not. No one would ever take the series seriously ever again. It would ruin so much of what I love. I hope so much that this is just a rumor.
But as for JKR writing the other book that would be great. It’s probably the encyclopedia if anything.
But please, please no musical.
I think we’d all buy something HP if JKR writes it, especially if its for charity. Now, it would be interesting to get a recording of that group in Scotland who performed the entire HP series in 0ne hour, maybe that could be made available on DVD? And the Dawn French and friends Red Nose spoof, “HP and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbijan” could also be released with proceeds going to Comic Relief UK?
Nonsense like this idea of a muscical just makes you appreciate what a breath of cultural fresh air JKR has given us! Thank you JK for a decade of good reading! And for the discussions your books have stimulated!
Over marketing will ruin the magic. One can only hope for two things: 1. that JKR herself will refuse to allow the rights to her characters to be used, and 2. that the fools who dreamed up this silliness, like the fools at Warner Bros, might actually pay some attention to what the HP fans themselves are saying. The first might be probable, as long as JK has control over the legal rights (does she, or does her agent???); the second is probably vain wishful thinking I realize, since its pretty obvious no one at WB pays the slightest attention. But if HP fans themselves are moaning and groaning, then ticket sales probably will be slim.
But, HP, the musical… sigh. I suppose that we’d at least get to hear the Hogwarts school song performed in full? But you would think that producers out to make a quick buck would have learned from having fallen flat with the LotR musical? Theatre and film appear devoid of any original ideas and determined to make money by re-re-making old films (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, again???), films into plays, plays into films, muscials based on ABBA (shudder…and now that’s going to be a film!)....
On the other hand, the possibilities for generating garbage are endless! HP, the rock opera; Ice Capades presents HP (followed by Riverdance does HP); HP, the Saturday cartoons; anime Hp; the US tv sit-com (eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww—actually saw a late night sketch about a month ago: Ron and Harry share an apartment after leaving Hogwarts, with the old tv series Odd Couple as the stolen plot line…)
Or, the worst possible nightmare i can think of, the HP characters doing Desperate Housewives! Is Ron secretly having an affair with Luna? Just how solid is Harry and Ginny’s marriage? What is Draco hiding down in the basement? And why is Hermoine such a work-a-holic? Compensating for some personal problems at home, no doubt! Stay tuned for a preview of next week’s episode…..
I really, desperately hope not. No one would ever take the series seriously ever again. It would ruin so much of what I love. I hope so much that this is just a rumor. But as for JKR writing the other book that would be great. It’s probably the encyclopedia if anything. But please, please no musical.