"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" on Broadway

Production photo by Manuel Harlan

Yes, Harry Potter is on Broadway. And by all indications, he plans to stay there a while. The Lyric Theatre on West 43rd Street is quite transformed, inside and out. For example, this is what the outside of the theater looks like now:

New York Times photo by Sara Krulwich

According to the New York Times, the producers spent over $30 million dollars to renovate the theater. I didn't have my camera, and my phone didn't really capture it so I borrowed this picture from the Times. The inside touches are equally impressive, but it's also a statement about the amount of money they expect to make on the show. Given the ticket prices (and the ticket lottery required to get the privilege of paying them), they will easily recoup that and turn a handsome profit.

But it's not all about the business. What about the show?

The Play

As the photo above indicates, this play actually comes in two parts (sort of like the last book in the series spread out over two movies). I will opine on that later, but for now suffice it to say that neither part stands on its own, so I will treat the play as a single entity. And indeed, we saw the shows back-to-back last Wednesday. Particularly for a first viewing, that continuity seems valuable. I suppose one could (if one felt both motivated and wealthy) go back to see only one part or the other separately, but I'm not sure that would be very satisfying.

I'm not going to talk much about the substance of the play. They have their own hashtag (#KeepTheSecrets) that not-too-subtly indicates that one shouldn't give out any spoilers. I think it's pretty well known that this play is sort of "Harry Potter: The Next Generation" (if I may mix my fandoms). We still get to see a lot of Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione, but the crux of the play revolves around their children, and particularly Harry's middle child, Albus Severus Potter. He's now old enough to go off to Hogwarts himself, but definitely feels the weight of being the child of the most famous wizard ever.

So we have a family drama, the father and his difficult son, the legacy, etc. Pretty standard stuff for a dramatic play. But of course, nothing in this ficton could ever be that simple. So throw in the next generation of the Malfoy family, too. Add some flashbacks to some of the stories in the books and even some of the back story to those. Add some general wizardry and a lot of flashy Broadway stagecraft, and you've pretty much got Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The two shows combined clock in at over five hours. I'm sure the true fans will say that's not nearly enough, but from the standpoint of the actual story, it's really more than necessary. One could easily edit the show down to more like 3 hours without losing much of substance, but then I suppose it would be harder to justify all the expense for the bells and whistles. Speaking of which...

The Production

There are no holds barred in this production. It's got all the glitz you'd expect in a big-time Broadway musical, but it's not a musical. It's got a forty-person cast. It's got special effects worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, but live on stage. So magic wands get used in this show like light sabers in a Star Wars movie: early and often.

For my taste, the show leans too heavily on tricks and glitz, and not enough on a real story. This franchise was built on stories and characters, so it's disappointing to me to see that balance tip in favor of style over substance on stage. There's no reason they couldn't have put the exciting stuff to work on behalf of a solid story, but I guess they figured this was good enough.

So for fans of stagecraft, this is a real bonanza. But it's a big commitment of time and money to come away remembering the effects more than the characters and their interactions.

Bottom Line

I felt mildly out of place since I was not cosplaying as a wizard. Lots and lots of people of all ages in robes, schoolboy outfits, scarves, and wands all around me. This is clearly a show for them, and they love it.

I don't know that this show is going to attract many people who aren't already devoted Potter fans, but I guess it doesn't have to--there are plenty of those. And I don't know how much spillover it will have to other shows. How many fans will come to see this and then go a few more blocks to see The Lion King or The Band's Visit? Hard to say. But again, that's not what this is about. This is a temple built for the faithful to come and pay their devotions, and come they do.

I was wowed by the stagecraft, but wished there had been a better story underlying it all.