Potted Potter at Broadway Playhouse | Theater review

Potted Potter at Broadway Playhouse

Two ordinary guys, albeit guys with an above-average love of pratfalls and silly hats, re-create all seven Harry Potter books in little more than an hour. Co-creators Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, naturals with kids and audience participation, milk the winning premise with banter and callbacks. The two are BBC children’s hosts, and one of the show’s best bits comes when a pair of young audience volunteers fends off a Golden Snitch, portrayed by Clarkson with a bulbous costume and a kazoo. That madcap, participatory fun waxes and wanes, and Clarkson and Turner underuse the wide stage and their own set; it’s a show, but it’s not always theater. Given that audiences already know their J.K. Rowling, Potted Potter is best when off book.