Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Brings Fantasy To Life In Stunning Production at Orpheum Theatre

Photo by Evan Zimmerman

I have a giant Harry Potter tattoo on the back of my arm. When writer J.K. Rowling started saying some stupid stuff and tarnishing her own name, lots of people went out and got their Harry Potter tattoos covered up. I did not. Honestly, it wasn't even a thought in my head. No, I didn't agree with what J.K. Rowling said, but Harry Potter was and remains bigger than J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter was my escape in high school and, to this day, still acts as a bit of an escape. I feel like I'm still constantly waiting for my Hogwarts acceptance letter to come flying through my fireplace. I know it's not going to happen, but every once in a while, it's nice to dream about being taken away from this world and placed into the mystical and fantastical wizarding world. For me, Harry Potter ended with The Deathly Hallows, the seventh book of the series. I fell off the train after that, and I hate that, but I felt like I had everything I needed from this world and stopped paying attention after the line, "All was well." That's not where the story ended, though. The books kept on coming, the spin-offs kept popping up, and 'The Cursed Child' turned into a live performance. Although it had been years since I read the 2016 book, I was excited to jump back into the world that existed nineteen years after "all was well," not through just another book, but through a live adaptation of this sequel.

There were a lot of things that happened throughout this nearly three-hour performance at The Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis on Wednesday night that I want to talk about, but to bring them all up would not only take me forever, but it would also spoil it for you, so instead, I'm going to pick out some of my all-time favorite "wow moments" from the performance to highlight.

The first one is probably my favorite aspect of this play, but it made up about .03% of the performance. I'm not going to give you a bunch of background on the storyline here outside of the fact that it's what happens nineteen years after the "final book," but long story short, there's a lot of time traveling that goes on. The way that this production depicted time travel gave me chills. You would know it was coming because the shadows on the stage would grow a bit prominent and then, just like that, a vibrating and low sound would blast through the theatre as the lights shook on stage. Okay, this doesn't sound that cool, but due to the brilliant set design and the lighting being just right, it would give the stage this wobbly kind of feeling. Like it was spazing out and vibrating as you would imagine happens when time traveling. The audience wasn't moving, but the genius visual created made it feel like you were. Okay, now that I'm trying to write this down in words, I realize that this effect is next to impossible to explain, but even if you're not a Harry Potter fan or don't like live theater, it's worth seeing this show if only to experience this kind of magic.

This fun and stunning lighting effect wasn't the only magical thing happening on stage. Obviously, it goes without saying, there was a lot of magic on stage. Maybe most of it was just visual tricks and fast hands, but I really liked how these moments of "magic" scattered throughout the performance really made you believe that magic was real. Whether it was when some of the characters took Polyjuice potion and transformed into different characters right in front of our eyes or the battle scenes when you had chairs floating in mid-air among bursts of fire and smoke, it was just absolutely and jaw-droppingly fantastical.

Really, I could not get over some of the visuals that happened throughout this show. There was that lighting effect, the magic, and then the dementors. These are creepy, nasty, and brooding figures that literally suck the happiness out of you until there's nothing left. They are terrifying in the book, scary in the movies, and downright intense when it comes to this performance. The way these creatures floated through the air with this almost sheer fabric hanging from them, creating a truly sinister scene, was stunning and, at times, downright scary. They flew through the air gracefully but with an air of terrifying breath behind them, and they left havoc and chills in their path. I won't give away what else these creatures do throughout the performance because, again, I don't want to spoil it and don't want to have to give more background than you need to understand this performance, but I will just say that these characters were a stand-out for me.

Another stand-out for me was Mackenzie Lessery-Roy and her portrayal of Moaning Myrtle. Although Moaning Myrtle doesn't have a big role in this performance, the few minutes she was on stage were spent helping some time travelers out of her home in the second-floor girls' bathroom at Hogwarts. This ghost is flirty and slightly off-kilter in the movie, and I love how Mackenzie brought it to life. A little bi-polar energy mixed with a flirtation that was as awkward as it was relatable to see play out, Mackenzie stole the spotlight with ease, and I instantly wish that there were more moments throughout this performance where we got to see and witness her enthusiastic performance. Mackenzie wasn't the only one who nailed the performance. Really, everyone did. I feel like everyone in this cast had this perfect way of balancing real and fantasy. Although they took us off to a fantasy kind of world, it was easy to relate to and felt like you really knew the characters.

The attention to detail and some insider kind of nods really made this performance sparkle. One of the main ones that stood out to me was the way performers never said Voldemort. Instead, they pronounced it Voldemor (no t). This is a nod to the fact that, in the wonderful wizarding world, you are not supposed to say his name. He is the one who must not be named because that name is something far too sinister and dark to mention. This small but brilliant nod to the lore of Harry Potter really got me excited just because I felt like it added to that feeling that you were actually in this fantasy world in a strange and inexplicable way.

Clearly, I loved everything about this performance, but I would be remiss to not bring up some small things that I wish had been different. First off was the music. Although the score done by Imogen Heap absolutely added to the magical feeling of the room, I would have loved at least a few nods to the original score from the movies. I get that this was not a movie and this production wants to pave their own way, but come on, just a little bit of the theme song, please? Another thing that irked me was the sorting hat. Now, it's been years since I read this book, but the sorting hat in this performance looked like a standard hat, not the epic creature from the movies. Maybe I missed something here. Maybe this was the way it was supposed to be, but I was just a bit bummed that I didn't get to see the legendary and iconic sorting hat in person. Really, I'm nitpicking here. Neither of these elements changed the fact that this was a truly stunning performance.

This week has been a bit insane at my day job. Because of that, I've fallen behind on everything else in my life. It's been stressful and just one of those weeks where I just want it to be over, I want to escape. Seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Orpheum Theatre on Wednesday was the perfect escape. It wasn't just the performance, it was the drive home with my friend where we reminisced about all of the last nights spent at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores waiting for the Harry Potter books to drop at midnight. It was remembering starting a Quidditch team in one of my friends' backyards and bringing back the memories of getting dressed up for the movies when they started coming out. We talked about locking ourselves in rooms to finish the books before anyone could spoil them for us. We talked about when life was easier, when we had a bit more fantasy in our lives, and things just felt a bit more relaxed and mystical. I don't know when we lost it, but seeing this performance was a reminder that it's not gone. It's time to bring back the fantasy, time to bring back the magic.