Following an agonizing seven month wait, fans of Team StarKid can now watch the third and final installment of A Very Potter Musical: A Very Potter Senior Year.
A Very Potter Senior Year was released for online viewing Friday evening. The show had a one-off performance, which was initially billed as simply a staged reading – live on stage at the LeakyCon Harry Potter fan convention in August 2012.
Watch AVPSY below!
Hypable Exclusive: Interviews with the StarKid cast
In light of tonight’s release, we’ve been speaking with various members of Team StarKid to get their thoughts on the A Very Potter Musical trilogy coming to a close. Read our extensive feature now!
AVPSY: A History
A Very Potter Senior Year features a book by Nick Lang, Matt Lang and Brian Holden, with new songs by Clark Baxtresser, Pierce Siebers, A.J. Holmes and additional songs by Darren Criss. The show stars Darren Criss as Harry, Joey Richter as Ron, and Meredith Stepien as Hermione, as well as featuring performances by Joe Walker, Dylan Saunders, Lauren Lopez, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Joe Moses, Brian Holden, Richard Campbell, Brant Cox, Devin Lytle, Nick Lang, A.J. Holmes, Tyler Brunsman, Jim Povolo, Jeff Blim, Brian Rosenthal, Britney Coleman, Elona Finlay, Chris Allen, Denise Donovan, Sango Tajima, Arielle Goldman, Alle-Faye Monka, Nicholas Strauss-Matathia, Nico Ager, Corey Dorris and Lily Marks – nearly every person who has ever been cast in any of StarKid’s previous six productions – as well as a cameo from official Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch.
A Very Potter Senior Year is the third and final show in StarKid’s Potter parody series, the first of which, A Very Potter Musical, shot the group to viral fame in the summer of 2009. A second Very Potter show was produced a year later. Following the sequel release, there were questions surrounding a potential third musical. There were a variety of reasons why another production wouldn’t be able to work, including Team StarKid’s development from a university-funded student extracurricular group to a living, breathing, money-making company. There were also issues like the move to creating more original material, and the difficulty of amassing the same central cast, particularly their Harry, Darren Criss, who scored a guest-starring role on Glee a few months after A Very Potter Sequel came out and is now a regular cast member of the prime-time show.
Criss, usually a reluctant Tweeter, has been chatting with many followers in the countdown to the release tonight, and had this message for his fans:
If any of you following me don’t know what AVPSY is- look it up, along with TeamStarkid. You won’t regret it. It’s a big deal for me.
— Darren Criss (@DarrenCriss) March 15, 2013
Despite years of denials and roadblocks, the show was pulled off and will now live online forever. Given the time constraints, the show is not a fully rehearsed production, but for those expecting the cast to be sitting around a table with glasses of water reading out the script, what Team StarKid have managed to produce for their fans is pretty incredible.
A Very Potter Senior Year is the first StarKid production to have an official sponsor, Audible.com, for its YouTube release, and also the first to feature a few interspersed sneak peeks of their new upcoming projects, including a new parody musical and an original graphic novel!
Hit the comments to let us know what you think of A Very Potter Senior Year! Did AVPSY live up to your expectations?
Photo credit: LeakyCon/Cheri Root