“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” originally a book written by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, was transformed into a stage play for Broadway and truly captures the magical feeling that the Harry Potter universe has to offer.
On Dec. 11 at the Emerson Colonial Theatre located in Boston, the main cast of the on-stage act consisted of Adam Grant Morrison as Albus Potter, David Fine as Scorpious Malfoy, Julia Nightingale as Delphi Diggory, Rachel Leslie as Hermione Granger, Trish Lindstrom as Ginny Potter, Matt Harrington as Ron Weasley and Nick Dillenburg as Harry Potter.
The play takes place 19 years after the events of the main Harry Potter series, with Harry’s son, Albus Potter, being the main character. Scorpius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy’s son, and Albus become an unlikely duo and attempt to fix the past issues that Harry had faced with saving Cedric Diggory by using an illegal time-turner with the help of a girl named Delphi Diggory, Cedric’s cousin. I enjoyed this plot a lot and liked how it was able to continue the story into the Harry Potter universe, not just with Harry, but with new characters as well.
With a runtime of 2 hours and 50 minutes, I initially thought the on-stage act would feel long or even boring at times, but the experience was far from it. Although the run time seems intimidating, the intermission separates the two halves nicely to keep the audience engaged. This not only gave viewers, like me, time to catch our thoughts about the first part, but it also gave viewers time (20 minutes) to go to the bathroom, get more food and shop at the Harry Potter gift shop.
The experience was like nothing I had seen before. What really struck me was how real everything felt. This play was so much more immersive than any other play I have seen in the past, it drew you in. While watching the magic come from the actors’ wands, I truly felt like they were casting spells at each other and that I was a witness to the magical universe of Harry Potter. It was especially captivating to visual effects, like fire, as they made the experience all the more enjoyable. As I was sitting in the front row, I could feel the heat from the flames, making myself feel even more engrossed in the act itself.
My all-time favorite moment from the play was the dementors. A dementor is a creature in the book that essentially takes the soul of a person, achieving a grim reaper look. From the moment I read about them as a kid, they have always been something to catch my attention. Seeing them up close and personal with my own eyes was something that I never thought I would experience. They looked even more magical in person and felt like an untouchable force that can be difficult to nail in any on-stage act. The way you can see every little piece of the dementor blow in the wind, flying in the air and sucking out people’s souls, was truly a moment I will never forget.
I also loved the usage of props and lighting that the show had to offer. The cast and crew put in a lot of time and effort, even down to the most minute details, to ensure that the performance would be one of their best. For many on-stage acts, it is hard to create an opening universe with the set pieces at hand, but “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” erased any doubts I may have had whatsoever. Their set was breathtaking to look at. It’s just what I had imagined when I read the Harry Potter books as a kid. The act captured the familiar feeling of those key pieces of Harry Potter media and turned it into something that we could welcome with open arms.
Overall, if you haven’t already, I urge you to try and witness this beautiful act in person. I cannot say that there is anything that disappointed me when it came to this stage act. It is an astounding performance that is sure to leave you in awe and well satisfied.
