If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
J.K. Rowling, 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' trio talk bringing play to Broadway
The three stars of the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Jamie Parker (Harry), Paul Thornely (Ron), and Noma Dumezweni (Hermione), chatted at length about bringing the massive London production to New York City.
In the new interview to promote the March opening at the Lyric Theatre, the three teased a few plot points, their Hogwarts Houses, all of the Harry Potter film stars who have already seen the two-part productions (all save Daniel Radcliffe), and what's to come. A few highlights are below, but the in-depth interview can be read at the link.
Do you feel like this show is a gift to all of those people who mourned the end of the Harry Potter series?
Jamie Parker: I think so. My feeling is that I didn’t realize until getting to know the play that the circle is not complete. You’re left at the end of the books with them sending their kids off to school, but it does raise that question of, "What does that mean when they become parents?" They've got to deal with the next generation.
Noma Dumezweni: There’s joy that the books that you love and adore are going to come back in a different form. Then you realize how much you want them again because we do let things go. There’s a yearning, and that’s what books are great for. Jo [J.K. Rowling] wrote these amazing stories, and it’s done and sealed. Then our joy as fans and punters and storytellers is, “Oh my gosh, there’s an opportunity to hear the eighth story!”
Paul Thornley: For a lot of people, those books were the first thing they ever read. And our show was, for many people, their first-ever experience at the theater as well.
On the other side of the pond, the creative team behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, writer Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany, and author J.K. Rowling, also vaguely teased what's to come, but did mention that the heart of the story is between the two young characters outside the trio, Albus Potter (Sam Clemmett) and Scorpius Malfoy (Anthony Boyle).
After years of peace in the Potterverse, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” coming to Broadway soon, deals with the forces of darkness and authoritarian power rising — themes that might be read as echoes of real-world events https://t.co/WzogzowAE2
J.K. Rowling: Most of the ideas were about musicals, which I don’t love, or redoing the books on stage. I wasn’t interested in doing Harry in every medium.”
“We talked about loss, fear, bereavement, what it’s like to try to make a family when your own is poor or nonexistent. I was really interested in making something more reflective than had been possible in the films. I don’t think we ever deviated from those themes.”
“When I met John and Jack, I think we knew pretty quickly that the play would center around Albus. [I've] been interested in Albus Severus. He was the one I thought about. Imagine going to Hogwarts with those two names — which of course I gave him!”
“[Scorpius] is such a beautiful character, and in many ways the emotional heart of the play. And such an amazing foil for Albus, who is tortured and self-involved.”
While most tickets for the first year of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are mostly sold out, there might be a chance to get some in advance here (good luck). Harry Potter and the Cursed Child starts previews in March, and opens on Broadway beginning April 22, 2018.