Posted By Kathleen David on June 8, 2018
In the first wave of ticket sales for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, we scored tickets for a Wednesday where you can see both parts in the same day with a short break in between. This was back in November 2017 and the tickets we obtained were for Wednesday June, 6th, 2018.
A month out Peter started getting emails from the theater about what to expect and what the rules were going to be. Tickets could be picked up three days before performance and the person picking up the tickets must be the person who bought the tickets online. No large bags. Arrive one hour before the show to get through security. No recording or photos during the performance. They gave us the length of each play and a set of restaurants in the area. Over the four weeks, they gave us a lot of information.
Day of we had a plan of attack that depended on clockwork precision without a time turner if something screwed up. We plotted different routes into the city. We picked up Caroline from school so she could get as much in the day as possible and off to the city we went. And ran into traffic of course. Much of it we were able to get around thanks to the HOV lane but in the end we had to suffer through the mess that is the Queens Midtown tunnel which is under construction so they shut down various parts of it to continue the work. Within the city, we got caught in traffic in midtown that seems to always be there.
We did make it to lunch with time to spare then onto the theater scoring some of the last spots with places to lean against the wall leading into the theater. Security got us in very efficiently and we found seats for the half hour wait for the doors to open to the theater.
Once into the theater we were happy to see that our seats were just behind and aisle so we knew we would have an unobstructed view.
We settled in and were ready to be entertained.
All three of us had read the rehearsal script but not the final one. They tightened the show up quite a bit from the original script.
Anthony Boyle (Scorpius Malfoy) was the stand out for me because the character was so flat in the script but his acting brought it to life with such an incredible performance that he has my vote for the Tony if I could vote for the Tony. I enjoyed Sam Clemens (Albus Potter) and Jamie Parker (Harry Potter) and thought they had good chemistry as a father and son that have problems communicating but still love each other. Paul Thornley (Ron) and Noma Dumezweni (Hermione) were given a difficult task from the get go but are up to the challenge. Mr. Thornley’s Ron was the book Ron all grown up with that goofy way of looking at life still firmly in place. Ms. Dumezweni was given the challenge to make this character her own rather than a reflection of the films. She does so admirably. I loved how she played the role and, considering some of the twists within the show, the range she shows is a thing of beauty. Alex Price (Draco Malfoy) was given the task to make us actually care what has happened and what happens to Draco and he succeeds. Poppy Miller (Ginny) does a good job with what she was given but the writing of that character is probably one of the weakest in the script. There are other characters in the show that the actors were amazing in but I consider those spoilers so just know that the cast is awesome.
Set design was smart and the way that they change things around seems to be the current Broadway standard (think Hamilton) with minimalism. Costumes were pretty minimalist as well but did the job they needed to do.
One aspect I really liked is that the magic tricks were not over used. Any magic used was within the script and we would go a while between the uses of magic. Those that were there were amazing. I think my favorite was the use of the time turner, which lead to some amazing effects. The day after we got a message from the company with a video from JK Rowling asking us to be their secret keeper and let others enjoy the play the same way we dd. So I am going to do as she asks and not discuss specifics of what I saw and figured out.
We were entertained and amazed by the show. The end of the first part made us glad that we were under the balcony because it was very scary.
Dinner did not quite work out the way we wanted but we rolled with that slight blip.
I would like to say thank you publicly to the security team that is overseeing security at the show. They were polite and professional. They got Peter a chair when standing got too much for him and made sure that everyone knew what was going on. Blarney the bomb-sniffing dog was working very hard when he was on duty but a big ol’ puppy when on break.
We entered the theater efficiently for part two and returned to our seats.
Part two was as good if not better than part one. By the end all questions were answers and some incredible magic effects were seen. The ending was very satisfying and if that the last time I see these characters I am very happy with how they were sent off.
In the end I think that we were wise to see it in one shot but know that it is a very long day. We entered the theater at 1:30 in the afternoon and finally exited at about 10:30 with a break in between. That’s a lot of show to process.
I do think it is worth seeing.
I am going to be interested if they are going to do a bus and truck and if they can do all the effects we saw on the road.
I am grateful we got to see these plays with the original Broadway cast.
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