Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD at Hollywood Pantages

Can you believe in magic? Maybe a little bit? And if so, how much are you willing to buy in?

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, the stage sequel to the literary series about the world’s most celebrated boy wizard, is aimed squarely at those legions of fans who couldn’t get enough of these characters after the first six books (and seven movies), and are now hungry for a new adventure. The task of continuing the magic in front of a live audience is a tall order that author J.K. Rowling set for herself and her collaborators, playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany. With books, people’s imagination can create the dragons, serpents, trolls and sorcery. On film, CGI can manifest anything. Live on stage, the safety net of technology isn’t so forgiving.

Either way, CURSED CHILD was fated to be event theater from the second the two-part saga hit the London stage in 2016. Expectations were similarly stratosphere-bound through its Broadway transfer in 2018 followed by a couple of regional and international stagings. The national tour that opened at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre is the shortened single- evening version that the creatives re-fashioned following the production’s return from the pandemic. And, yes, hard-core Potter-heads who caught the two-play version (or have read the published playscript) may notice some of the cuts.

The good news is that – shortened or otherwise - this CURSED CHILD is a banquet of magical delights that also happens to be a crackling good story, which should delight series neophytes and Potter-lovers alike. Well, it should really get the Potter-lovers since they’ll be the ones who get every reference and know what’s going on.

And precisely what kind of wizardly wonders will your ticket purchase? Quite a lot, actually.

A wind blows groups of people across the stage in choreographed formation, their suitcases or satchels lurching and pinwheeling. Whether in a London train station, at the Ministry of Magic or in the halls of Hogwarts (and we go everywhere), there are unearthly forces propelling the wizards and muggles on their way. One of the first jaw-dropping effects sees the Potters and the Weasleys seeing their children off on their train ride off to Hogwarts. They start out at King’s Cross, and burst wind-blown through the barrier onto Platform 9 and ¾. In the blink of an eye, everyone who was wearing normal clothes is now – presto! - adorned in wizard robes.

That’s only a twinkling of what’s in store. People and objects are frequently levitating, sometimes in battle. Characters transform seamlessly into other characters. Bookshelves swallow up human beings. Every conceivable object can serve as a portal to pass through. Spells are cast accompanied by bursts of pyrotechnics. This is swoon-worthy stuff that progresses and stacks up as the evening unfolds. Jamie Harrison is the artist credited for the production’s illusions and magic, and he is greatly aided by lighting designer Neil Austin, sound designer Gareth Fry and video designers Finn Ross and Ash Woodward. While the play’s  amateur rights may eventually be released, it is very difficult to conceive of this story ever being told on a smaller scale. Honestly without the means to replicate these visuals, why would anyone even attempt it?

Notwithstanding, a new adventure is promised and delivered. Now comfortably pushing 40 some 19 years after he offed the evil wizard Voldemort and saved the world, Harry Potter (played by John Skelley) is a husband (to the former Ginny Weasley), and father who works for the Ministry of Magic. We meet the Potters as they’re sending shy younger son Albus (Emmet Smith) off to Hogwarts where the poor kid will have to contend with the baggage of being the savior’s son. On the Hogwarts Express, Albus strikes up a quick connection with another even lonelier boy, Scorpius Malfoy (Aidan Close), son of Harry’s one time nemesis, Draco Malfoy (Benjamin Thys). Among the commonalities that draws these two misfit lads together: their respective strained, testy relationships with their famous (or in Draco’s case, quite infamous) dads. And if you’re already lost, a scan of the QR code in the playbill provides a quick refresh on the wizarding world.

Much as Harry did when he was a boy at Hogwarts, Albus and Scorpius immediately sets off on an adventure, in this case a quest to right a wrong. With the use of a time turner stolen from the Ministry of Magic, he plans to go back into the storied past, change events and thereby restore the dead Cedric Diggory to Diggory’s still grieving father, Amos (Larry Yando). Of course, as anyone who has ever seen a time-traveling tale knows, when you mess around in the past, you don’t just change one element of the future, and Albus and Scorpius’s actions muck up the entire Potter timeline including the union of Ron Weasley (Matt Mueller) and Hermione Granger (Ebony Blake). While the boys are figuring things out, the adults – Harry especially - have to rev up their wands and jump back into action to fix things (or not) and to confront a powerful threat to the wizarding world. The lightning bolt scar on Harry’s forehead has been throbbing, and we all know what that means.

As quickly as events move, (and for all its nearly three hour run time, CURSED CHILD is never stagnant) a certain amount of explaining takes place to keep us abreast of what is actually happening. That said, it seriously helps to have some foreknowledge of the past Potter events to keep from getting lost. The more you remember, the gushier the waves of nostalgia when a favorite character – how’s it hanging, Moaning Myrtle! prepare for brickbats Dolores Umbridge  – makes an appearance. You can count on damned near every character, beloved or loathed, returning for a cameo in some form. To avoid spoilers of who’s coming, patrons are advised to not read the cast list until the performance concludes. Battling, as they are, the image imprinted by the film cast, the majority of Tiffany’s actors largely make these characters their own.

I said earlier that Rowling, Thorne and Tiffany are telling a good story. In fact, they’re spinning a new tale while going over bits of the Potter tales that we already know. The formula is a familiar one: peril, figuring out puzzles, teamwork, battles and heroes stepping up to make sure it all goes right.

As the title suggests, the parent-child dynamic is under the microscope. Harry Potter, it will be remembered, lost both his parents as an infant and had to make his way under the gaze of some loving if imperfect parental stand-ins. Accordingly, the boy who could handle a wand and navigate the Quidditch pitch like nobody’s business doesn’t really know how to be a father himself. Skelley puts Harry’s uncertainties and, sure, his flaws on display. We see, in his performance a reluctant hero who really has been worn down by the feats of his boyhood. Trish Lindstrom partners him with steadiness and maternal fire as Ginny. Ebony Blake’s brainy and officious Hermione is a strong presence across a couple of timelines.  

Ultimately, CURSED CHILD rests with the kids. Carrying an equally weighty dramatic load, Smith and Close are a winning pair as Albus and Scorpius. In these two performances, we watch two young men sharing a high-stakes adventure, saving each other’s lives while at the same time opening up to each’s first great friendship. And what could be more magical than that?

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD plays through June 22 at 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. 

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