A Very Potter Musical

In April 2009, a group of students at the University of Michigan named Team StarKid performed a musical they wrote called A Very Potter Musical, which gained many viewers on YouTube. What started as a small fan-made student production became an explosively popular series of videos that would earn Darren Criss, who plays Harry Potter, a recurring role on the hit Fox series Glee.

As a student-made enterprise, the musical's inception was very humble. Criss, the musical's songwriter, began putting chords together and adding lyrics fairly quickly after Team StarKid came up with the idea. Songs like "Goin' Back To Hogwarts", "Ginny's Song", and "Granger Danger" became very popular numbers after the show's premier.

In 2008, Darren Criss was still studying at the University of Michigan, trying to make his way as an actor. He auditioned for numerous roles including one role on a new series picked up by Fox called Glee. Darren auditioned for the role of Finn, the star quarterback at the high school where Glee takes place and the leader of the glee club. However, he was turned down by the show's writers and producers. The next year, Criss had joined Team StarKid, which would later move its base of operations to Chicago, Illinois. After graduating, Criss again tried at auditioning for roles but kept getting turned down. Then, he read an article in a newspaper about how an actor got a part by cutting his hair short. Criss, whose hair reached down to his neck, got a haircut and arrived at an audition for Glee. This time, he was trying for the role of Blaine Anderson, a gay student at a rival show choir and possible love interest to Kurt Hummel. The next week, he received a call that changed his career. He had gotten the part.

Blaine made his debut in "Never Been Kissed", as the lead singer of the Warblers, Dalton Academy's glee club. Kurt, also gay and initially a spy, grows close to Blaine and eventually transfers to Dalton due to its welcoming atmosphere to gay kids. The character becomes a mentor and possible love interest to Kurt, sparking many theories among the show's fans. In an interview, Criss stated, "The character Blaine himself is such a cool guy, and I really hope he ends up being a positive role model and source of strength for a lot of people, gay or straight-for any teen, really."

Today, Darren continues to play the recurring role of Blaine on Glee. Team StarKid has since moved its base of operations to Chicago and have put on two new musicals-Me and My Dick (2010) and Starship (2011).

A Revisionist Tale

Gregory Maguire is undoubtedly a great writer. In his revisionist series, The Wicked Years, he portrays L. Frank Baum's Oz as a country in a deep state of turmoil. The Land of Oz in Maguire's image depicts The Wizard of Oz as a harsh dictator who overthrew the Ozmas, the royalty of Oz. The three books: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men all contain bold descriptions of the nature of evil and hardship that was present in Oz during the Wizard's reign of tyranny.

One major element in the series is the Wizard of Oz's purge against anthropomorphic animals; capitalized Animals in the books to distinguish it from ordinary animals. In Son of a Witch, this is particularly established when Liir, the book's main character, discovers that the Wizard is keeping Animals prisoner in an underground prison beneath the Emerald City. Within the pages of A Lion Among Men, it is said that many Animals are migrating to the Vinkus, the western part of Oz, to escape the Wizard's campaign against them.

Maguire's Oz is broadly different than L. Frank Baum's Oz that generations of Americans have grown to love. Through the series' expression of evil and oppression, Maguire has created many dynamic characters. For instance, Galinda, who at first is snotty and mean, undergoes a massive change when Doctor Dillamond, a professor at the university she attends, is found dead. As a result, she changes her name to Glinda as a token to Doctor Dillamond's mispronunciation of her name.

I deeply respect Gregory Maguire's saga of good and evil because it is interesting to see an Oz plagued by unrest when the Oz that I knew before was full of happiness and joy. So I tip my hat to you Mr. Maguire. You have truly penned a fantastic series!

Tweets About The Cairo Riots

rafiqandani kinda wish the Egyptian masses in Tahrir Square would turn into a flash mob.. That would definitely sendMubarak a message!

asadabukhalil If I were to choose between dictators, I would pick Bin Ali over Mubarak. At least the former knew that he was hated and left.

orthotox To give #Mubarak more time to rule is to give him more time to kill.

joelgoodman @_cpb at the same time the #Cairo riots are inspiring. People fixing their govt and starting a revolution.

dianalian @neurra I didn't notice that, really... Did you see the Four Horsemen? One of them is Death, appeared during the riots at Cairo recently.

Zakkers13 Revolution in Tunis, riots in Cairo and Addis Ababa... Didn't George W say that invading Iraq would start the spread of democracy in M East?

djcraigmacky Because of the riots in Egypt they've cancelled my flight. Now I've got to get the night boat to Cairo. It's madness...

ChapmanFamily Watching the Cairo riots was more fun than this superbowl

BarbWireBetty Chicago sports' fans pooh pooh Cairo's riots. "Hell, we burn more cars than that after basketball games."

Benyeahwhat I think the super hero in Cairo is watching Direct T.V. Hence all the riots. On a lighter note, I can't blame him.

abSTRacTMiNDED U know whats sad? People over reacting that facebook might shut down In march (it's not) but people in Egypt are having riots no one listens

TPOTEfan these poor reporters almost got killed in the riotsin #Egypt. Amazing story, glad they're safehttp://tinyurl.com/4a6cf7z

mcdandyandy RT @DeathStarPR: Riots continue in Egypt. Mubarak and would-be dictators take note: this is what happens when you take Farmville away from people.

JZogo_ Just finished my essay about the riots in #egypt :)

StephOlivieri First the trapped miners in Chile and now theriots in Egypt. How much more drama can the Middle East take? - S. Palin