HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

To all the people who have been asking me if I’m ever going to review the presentations at the Pantages again, (I haven’t done so since the pandemic,) I’m happy to report that I’m back at it! The occasion of my long-overdue return to the iconic Hollywood theatre was to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last week. The second I walked into that stunning auditorium, (which features the most gorgeous ceiling ever,) I realized that I had missed the place, and that I need to make time for it in my life again. After all, their resident organization, Broadway In Hollywood, brings major Broadway shows to Los Angeles, which makes the venue extra-special. (And the play started right on time there, which I really appreciate.)

My friend Marc and I attended the show on what my mother would refer to as “a plain little Wednesday night,” and…the place was absolutely packed! I didn’t notice an empty seat anywhere! And now it’s easier than ever before to see it because there are many deals on tickets, including for Mother’s Day, so this is the time to take advantage of them. All the deets are on their site, the link to which is at the end of this review.

Even though the Pantages series is usually made up of Broadway musicals, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a Broadway play. A Tony Award-winning one! There is a ton of movement on stage, especially twirling of the Hogwarts capes, along with inter-scene auxiliary music, but there are no songs nor dancing, per se. However, with so much else going on during its three full hours, it does not feel like the musical aspect is missing. At all.

Now, as for the Harry Potter franchise, I’m far from an expert. But I know that this story is not one of the series of books, and was created for the sole purpose of turning into this play, although the author of them, J. K. Rowling, has referred to it as “the eighth Harry Potter story.”

Since I’m always honest, I have to admit that I am not a Harry Potter fan; I read the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, when it was the “in thing” for grown-ups to do back in the day. And then I saw the movie version of it when it came out four years later. And that was enough of the boy wizard and his world for me. But I had heard good things about this show, and I always want to see every Broadway offering, so I figured I should give it a shot. And I’m glad I did; I didn’t want to be the only one left-out!

If you are a Harry Potter fan, this show is a must. And if you’re not an aficionado, I suggest you still see it to observe all of the very special visuals. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child presents perhaps more of them than any other play I’ve ever seen. I won’t tell you about them in specific so that you can experience the surprises for yourselves, but let me just say that it might actually make you believe in magic, after all.

Someone sitting near me in the audience told me that he was tired when he got there, and, knowing the length of the show, he figured he would close his eyes for a bit and just listen. But when he heard us all oohing and ahhing from what we were witnessing, he realized he had to keep his eyes peeled to the stage, so he wouldn’t miss anything.

Because my own Harry Potter education began and ended with that first story, (there are now seven books and even more movies, and, of course, this stage play,) I also have to admit that I was a bit lost* in this story where time travel is paramount, but I just went with it. I felt a bit like Mr. X does when he watches one of my CW series with me—there are a lot of characters and it’s a tad hard to keep all their stories straight if you’re not a regular viewer. So, if you join me in my Potter world nescience, perhaps you should study-up a bit before you go. (I learned afterwards that there’s a resource on their site below that will give you a refresher course.) *[Note: When I was performing a bit of the scenario for Mr. X while I was writing this review, I realized that I understood much more of the action than I had originally thought that night!]

But I really do feel the story doesn’t matter as much as the impressive illusions and fabulous special effects. Marc and I sat in the second row center, and still could not see how they were done. As a matter of fact, he’s still asking me if the giant hanging “ghosts” were actors, puppets, or something else. I’ll never tell. (Because I actually do not know!)

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child features a big cast of very committed actors. They all sell every word of their complex dialogue, and they make the action fun and interesting. And they must be really in shape with all the running around they have to do; it’s a very physical production. They were totally a unit who were in it together, which is actually the way an ensemble should work. The only individual thing I have to say about any of them is that John Skelley really does look just about exactly as we would imagine the grown-up Harry Potter to look, which I really got a kick out of.

About that aging of the familiar characters—in case you don’t know, this story takes place nineteen years after the last book, with a grown-up Harry who is married to Ginny Weasley, and they have a teen-age son, Albus. That’s all you need to know going in.

And there’s a lot of humor. At one point, a character says, “Let’s go to the Forbidden Forest,” to which another one replies, “Oh good, nothing bad ever happens there.” That’s my favorite line of the show.

But Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not simply about teen-agers and wizardry and effects and humor. And the good guys winning. It took me a few days to realize that the fraught relationship between a grown-up Harry and his teen-age son Albus is a deep storyline. Parents and children, am I right? I didn’t get along very well with my own father, but after he passed, I read his old journals, and I saw the magic words in one of them. I had gone cross-country from Brooklyn to LA as a teenager, and went back home to visit a few times a year. On the night I went back to LA after my second visit, he wrote, “Sad to see the pest leave.” I’ve been living on that ever since. So remembering that made me appreciate Harry and Albus’ complicated relationship after the fact.

There’s also one funny thing this show reminded me of. A few years ago, I came upon Mr. X watching a British movie…with the subtitles on! I asked him why he needed them when the actors were speaking English! So he showed me the film without the captioning, and I realized that…I could barely make-out a word they were saying! So that happened to me on a much smaller scale in this also-British play. I understood only about a quarter of the dialogue. But I promise—it really doesn’t matter in this one. The visuals are more important than the script.

My only problem with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is that, at a full three hours, it’s way too long. No one besides Marc and I seemed to mind, though, and I understand that it’s pared-down from the two-part, six-hour original British (and then Broadway) production. But I still suggest not being hungry or tired when you see it. You don’t want your Muggle-ness to be obvious!

You have just about ten more weeks to see it, so remember to check-out the deals to be had, and go enjoy the show. And one little tip—it was pretty cold in there when we saw it, so maybe dress in layers.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child running through June 22, 2025
Pantages Theatre 6233 Hollywood Blvd.
800-982-2727 www.broadwayinhollywood.com