Even a play as laugh-out-loud hilarious as Puffs can have some sad moments.
As this is a moments page, all spoilers will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Puffs the Play
- In hindsight, the Rorrimdriew scene (a parody of the Mirror of Erised) is rather sad when you remember how the show ends for Wayne.
- So is the Uncle Dave scene, where Wayne looks back on his uncle's life as some "dead, unimportant guy" and swears to be a part of something important at least once in his life. That fixation on "importance" comes back to bite him in seventh year...
- Now rewatch the Mr. Moody scene, notice that Moody (played by Stephen Stout, who also plays the Headmaster) directs the line about the "Green Light Curse" directly to Wayne, and try not to cry even more.
- Cedric's death. We see nothing, we know it's coming, but what we see is the reaction. As all the other Puffs wonder for a second why he's "taking a nap", Wayne's face slowly falls.
- Even worse is that Wayne looked up to Cedric as a mentor. This is to him what Dumbledore's death was to Harry, and he even goes into the same angsty funk that Harry does in fifth year.
- At the beginning of seventh year, Oliver reveals that due to the Fantastic Racism against "Mug-borns", he won't be going back to Hogwarts. Wayne and Megan are understandably heartbroken.
- J. Finch's death. He dies by jumping in front of a curse meant for Ernie (the two had gotten together minutes prior). Ernie is understandably upset.
- For all the Alternative Character Interpretation that the show takes with Harry, during the battle scene, Wayne realizes that he's only taking part in a tiny portion of what Harry's gone through his entire life. The trio admits to feeling bad for him.
- Which is then immediately followed by Wayne's death.
- He's killed by a Killing Curse (known as the Green-Light Curse in this universe), because Harry ran by him and disappeared, and Voldemort thought he was Harry. Megan and Oliver cry out his name as the lighting shifts.
- Then we get the scene in the "white room," aka King's Cross, where Wayne meets the Headmaster. The look on his face when he realizes what's happened is heartwrenching. He looks like he's seconds away from sobbing...especially when he realizes that none of what he did really mattered.Wayne: What was even the point? I won't be remembered for anything. No one will know my name. I'm just some unnamed dead kid at a school battle...Potter's battle. He gets to be the hero. He gets everything I ever wanted. Why did I have to be so...unimportant?
- At first the Headmaster doesn't even recognize him. He realizes that Wayne is "not Harry," but then only barely can guess his name. The moment Wayne really breaks? When the Headmaster doesn't even know where they are, saying it was "more of a thing for Harry."
- Then, the Headmaster actually does give him good advice:Headmaster: We're all important, Wayne. And we're all unimportant. We're all heroes in some way, to someone...
- Of course, the audience remembers the last headmaster/student scene as a Disney Death - which is then instantly Jossed when this exchange happens:Wayne: So there's not going to be some big surprise - and I'm going to open my eyes, right where I died -Headmaster: I'm afraid not.Wayne: I was finally good at magic.Headmaster: There's only one kind of magic any of us need, Wayne...It's the greatest magic there is. Love.
- The scene is capped off when the Headmaster says "See for yourself"... and Wayne pulls the Puffs flag out of his pocket.
- Wanna cry even more? Zac Moon (Wayne) said that one of the reasons he stayed with the show for its entire off-Broadway run was because of how much he loved doing the white room scene with Stephen Stout (Headmaster), one of his best friends.
- The play ends with an obligatory 19 Years Later - where we meet Megan and Oliver's son...Wayne, who's been narrating the story the entire time. The play ends with him being Sorted, then him looking into the audience and smiling just before the lights Fade to Black.
The sequels
- Craig's death hits much harder here than in Cursed Child, because here we get to know him... and find out that he was Little Wayne's best friend. What's more, he's killed right in front of Little Wayne, who can do nothing to save him.
- Ernie Mac's adult life is tragic. He leads a miserable life, unable to get over the deaths of so many of his friends and fellow Puffs (and especially J. Finch) all those years ago. He tries to keep it together and pretend to be excited about his job as the train driver, but it's clear his enthusiasm is all an act, and not a very good one at that. For the battle with the First Witch he fully intends to die so he can finally see J. Finch again... but when the First Witch realizes that Ernie wants to die, she instead curses him with immortality.
