An Iowa State University student co-wrote a musical that makes its world debut tonight (Friday) based on the final 200 pages in the Harry Potter series. Mallory Vance, a native of Morning Sun, says she and another college student from New York created “The Final Battle” which premieres during a convention devoted to the fictional boy wizard in Orlando, Florida.
Vance says, “Our production — we have 45 cast members, a 14-piece orchestra and I have 14 tech crew members.” The musical is centered on the ultimate section of the seventh and final book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Vance, a senior in economics at I-S-U, says she’s read Harry Potter since the first day the first book was released. She says fans around the world will want to see and hear the musical, which she hopes to have available online soon.
“It’s going to be recorded and I will be doing some editing and in late August or early September, it will be up on YouTube,” Vance says. The address is: “www.YouTube.com/thefinalbattle2010“. The musical will also be presented live, online at 5 P.M./Central at “www.livestream.com/potterteevee“. It’s expected to last about three hours. Vance says the show is one highlight of the Harry Potter convention in Florida. She says the conventions are much like any other, except that the only focus is on the world of Hogwarts.
Vance says, “There will be a panel on the influences from the Greek language in Harry Potter or Latin bases, or there’ll be discussions of character development, or the relationship between Ron and Hermione.” She and the other student who co-wrote the musical met at a Harry Potter convention last summer in San Francisco.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City