Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Broadway Magic

I'll confess: when I read the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child two years ago, I was underwhelmed. But you know what? This is why a play is something you should experience live on stage. Because two years later, I sat down at the Lyric Theater for five hours and experienced the most magical night I've ever had on Broadway. And I don't say that lightly - the special effects in this production are so magnificent that I literally texted all of my friends, "How are they doing this, it's MAGIC!"

A brief word about the logistics of this play. It consists of two parts that are designed to either be watched concurrently on the same night or one after another on consecutive days. If you watch on the same day (like I did) you'll get to see the same actors, but if you choose to break up your viewing, you might have different actors. I was puzzled as to why all the characters were wearing identical clothing throughout the play - Hermione's the Minister for Magic, does she really only own one purple robe? But this makes much more sense when you consider audiences might otherwise get confused as to who is playing what role if the actors change midway through their viewing experience.

The fact that there are two parts should also immediately alert you to the fact that there is a LOT of story to get through. You would think that having five hours would mean that the story would flow smoothly, but you will seriously experience a lot of whiplash while you try to keep up with the brisk scene changes. The stage direction is sublime, and it's little wonder director John Tiffany has been sweeping up accolades for his work, but there's quite a lot of exposition to get through and it can all get a bit overwhelming. During the intermission of Part Two, a very excited young boy and his father who were sitting behind me were discussing everything that had just transpired, and it hit me that the things they were talking about had just happened an hour ago as opposed to three hours ago in Part One. So much had happened in that one hour that it already felt like it was a long time ago. Which is appropriate for a play that deals so much with time travel that by the end of it you have no idea what time you're in.

One of the campaigns of the play is #KeepTheSecrets, i.e. don't tell anyone what you've just seen so they can experience it with fresh eyes when they enter the theater. As a lifelong Harry Potter fan, I cannot deny the wishes of J.K. Rowling, so I'm not going to spoil the plot (you can read the Wikipedia summary or buy the script anyway to get all the details). All I will say is that all of the actors are magnificent, in particular Anthony Boyle, who is considered a Featured Actor in his role as Scorpius Malfoy, but honestly is the star of the entire show, providing consistent comic relief and then sudden emotional heft. More importantly though, I don't want to spoil the details of the special effects on stage, because they need to be seen to be believed. I remember reading the play and thinking, "how on earth could any of this be depicted on stage?" Now I have seen it for myself, and still find myself thinking, "how on earth did they DO that?" It's truly a wondrous night of theater, and the production design, set, and intricate choreography to get everything just right is a marvel to behold. It's quite nerdy to say so, but the scene transitions were my favorite part of the show, because like all great sleight of hand, they keep you immersed in the world while all sorts of machinations go on behind the scenes unbeknownst to you.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a technical masterpiece and feat of wizardry. It's a 4D experience, where the audience gets wholly immersed into the action on stage. I was sitting all the way in the back in the balcony and yet I didn't lose my interest for a second. If you can afford it, splurge for tickets as close to the stage as possible, but if you cannot, don't worry, you're still going to be blown away.