Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

Little Daniel Radcliffe grew up before our eyes in the Harry Potter movies. Earlier this year, he did his utmost to break away from the “boy wizard” image by starring in a London production of Peter Shaffer’s Equus.

The headline grabber was that the play _ about a mentally disturbed young man who injures a stable full of horses _ requires its star to go starkers.

Now the news is that 18-year-old Radcliffe and the production, which also stars Richard Griffiths (Tony Award-winner for The History Boys), is coming to Broadway.

In an interview with the AP’s Christy Lemire, Radcliffe joked about being naked on a cold stage. Here’s the exchange:

AP: Is it cold on that stage?

Radcliffe: (Smiles) Yes, it’s very well air-conditioned.

AP: There’s shrinkage?

Radcliffe: (Smiles again) There is an element of retraction, certainly.

On the subject of the media frenzy over Radcliffe’s nudity, Radcliffe addressed all the puns involved:

Radcliffe: I could write so many good puns, I’m sorry. They’ve used “Hairy Botter” about five or six times now.

AP: And then there are the obligatory wand puns, of course.

Radcliffe: The wand puns, yeah, you can have lots of fun with them.

Word is that Radcliffe will make the sixth Potter movie next year, and Broadway will follow. Lemire asked the young actor (who appears in a non-Potter movie this fall, December Boys) about the whole Potter phenomenon.

AP: Do you think you understand the insanity of the Harry Potter phenomenon any better today than you did at the beginning?

Radcliffe: Not at all. I think it’s almost impossible to fully comprehend. When you’re in the middle of something, you can’t see how far it stretches. And that’s sort of my position on it. I met someone the other day who said, “You’re really big in Kuwait.”

Proving that he’s serious about breaking the Potter mold, Radcliffe appeared in the last season of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s brilliant comedy “Extras.” He made fun of the whole Potter thing and was hilarious.

Here’s a lengthy clip from that episode. Bear with it — Radcliffe appears about two minutes in. The scene on the food bus is priceless.

This was inevitable. Harry Potter, the boy wizard who turned the world on with his wand, is going to be a musical, at least according to the Sunday Mirror in the United Kingdom.

Casting agents have been told to start looking for a young lad to play Potter in an all-singing, all-dancing version of J.K. Rowling’s magic at Hogwarts. Producers are already working on script ideas and hope to bring the musical to London’s West End next year.

A “theater insider” was quoted as saying: “The plan is for spectacular flying scenes, live Quidditch and big showdowns with Voldemort.”

After the middling success of the musical Lord of the Rings (some would call it an outright failure — at least in Canada, the London production is still hobbitting along), producers would be wise to try not cramming one musical full of too many books (the musical Lestat also comes to mind, which tried to jam three books into one godawful musical).