#puffsplay

Today, or rather, yesterday, I watched the fantabulous off-broadway theatrical showing of a wonderful parody of the Harry Potter Wizarding World. It’s Puffs! Or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School Of Magic and Magic.

Short warning, it is not a children’s show. On the website, they say the evening shows are appropriate for ages 13+, however, I personally believe that the age should be higher. The showing has adult language as well as a lot of dirty humor, much of it in the form of sexual innuendos. I didn’t see the matinee showing, so I don’t know where their 8+ range is accurate or not, however, for the evening shows, you have been warned.

The play is absolutely fantastically hilarious. All of their jokes garner laughter from the crowd, even if one is not familiar with the material they are parodying. It perfectly depicts the side character’s view of a story with the “chosen one”, as well as how they would survive similar situations to the “hero” without the impenetrable plot armor they always seem to have. The small cast work well to bring a sense of wonder and hilarity to the stage as well as portray many different and diverse characters in the Puffs world. The actors do their job amazingly, and I commend the entire backstage crew as well in assisting with costume changes and prop maintenance.

The lighting and sound as well, while criminally underused, is absolutely fantastic, bringing me deeper into the magical world. The directing on stage is okay. It’s not completely spectacular, in fact, it’s mostly stationary and it feels like it relies on the actors ability to make the audience laugh, however it still pretty good. Not much to say.

There is however one rather big problem I have with the play. While each character’s arc is gloriously interwoven into each hilarity-packed scene, most of the main puff characters appear to have either the same arc or simply don’t have one at all. Throughout the course of the seven (increasingly eventful) years we follow Wayne, Megan and Oliver as they learn what it means to be a Puff. However, Megan, as you learn in the first few scenes, doesn’t want to be a puff, and so by the end of the play, she changes in a lot of ways. Many of the characters don’t undergo any change, and only tell hilarious jokes. In fact, for the first few scenes, there doesn’t appear to be any plot at all.

If you came for a hilarious parody of the Wizarding World, it’s there for you to see. If you came for an interesting story in a parallel version of the Wizarding World, it won’t disappoint you, but mainly because you’ll be laughing too much to care.

Rating: 4/5

Tickets Available through March 3, 2019

Buy Tickets Here!

Trigger Warnings: There is strobe lighting as well as a haze effect. These warning are also said out loud at the beginning of the performance.

Puffs trio color designs,,,, I love these guys sm.

Uhhh me when I’m the only one in my fandom 💔💔

Oliver, Wayne (and with Cedric’s scarf), Megan, Susie, and young Narrator!!

autistic people and fellow puffs cast members/fans- have you guys had puffs related stims? we’re doing it as our show this year and i’ve had a lot of puffy stims popping up since we started. some of the vocal ones include “haha birds” and “bonjour! je suis tres superiere, ooh baguette!”