Puffs Play Made Available for Streaming on Playbill

Playbill announced this week that Puffs, or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic will be added to their streaming service Playbill Playback. Available for a limited time only from May 22-31, the original Off-Broadway production, filmed live in 2018, will be shown in full and include exclusive new interviews with the cast and creative team hosted by Felicia Fitzpatrick, Playbill’s Director of Social Media and Content Strategy.

Written by Matt Cox and directed by Kristin McCarthy Parker, Puffs is the unofficial story of the Hufflepuffs who, whether they like it or not, have their entire Hogwarts experience dominated by Harry Potter and the events that plague him. But through a little butterbeer, plenty of hugs, and a moral-boosting Cedric Diggory, these Puffs learn a thing or two about what it means to belong.

Streaming costs $8.99, and very much in the Hufflepuff spirit, a portion of the proceeds will benefit Frontline Foods, a donation-based platform that purchases food from local restaurants and delivers to hospital workers fighting on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Puffs is no stranger to working with Frontline Foods having raised over $5,000 for the organization this past April during a live-streamed reading of the Puffs‘ sequel, Nineteen-ish Years After.

To keep the #PuffPride alive, Playbill is also hosting a watch party on May 23 at 8PM EST on Twitter using the hashtag #PlaybillPlayback. That’s right, Badgers! An evening of festivities to keep you busy during hibernation social distancing.

Leaky reached out to both playwright Matt Cox and Playbill’s Felicia Fitzpatrick to ask what it means to them to bring this beloved production straight into Muggle living rooms:

COX: I’m so excited that old and hopefully new fans alike have this chance to visit our little room near the kitchens! That you can help out a wonderful cause by watching makes me that much more excited. A huge thanks to Playbill for making this happen. #ThirdorNothing!

FITZPATRICK: I fell in love with Puffs the first time I saw it at the PIT in 2017. The writing, the directing, the acting—it all worked together seamlessly as a delightful love letter to this world we know and adore. I immediately fell in love with the characters and story, and continued to see it again and again. I think I saw it a total of five or six times! Getting to do a deep dive with the cast and creative for our Playbill watch party made this Puff so happy. I’m so excited for audiences to discover or revisit the brilliance of this company! #ThirdOrNothing!

The cast of the Puffs filmed recording features Langston Belton, Madeleine Bundy, Jessie Cannizzaro, Nick Carrillo, A.J. Ditty, Julie Ann Earls, James Fouhey, Andy Miller, Zac Moon, Eleanor Philips, Stephen Stout, Anna Dart, and Jake Keefe. The creative team includes set and costume designer Madeleine Bundy, lighting designer Herrick Goldman, and sound designer Matt Cox, with original music composed by Brian Hoes.

Puffs originally began performances in New York City at the Peoples Improv Theater in 2015 before transferring to the Elektra Theater and finally New World Stage where it played from July 2017 to August 2019 to record-breaking audiences. In that time, Puffs also premiered in Melbourne, Australia in May 2018 where it was awarded the title of longest running play for the past 48 years.

While you’re donning your best black and yellow, check out Leaky’s exclusive two-part interview with the cast and creative team of the Off-Broadway production!