The wizarding world of Harry Potter was first introduced through novels and then went on to dominate many different forms of media, including movies, video games and theme parks.
One of the more recent additions to the Potter-verse has been on the stage with “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which takes place roughly 20 years after the events of the books.
Written by Jack Thorne, but worked over and blessed by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (now playing at the Fox Theatre through April 12) makes for a magical theatrical experience in spite of its jam-packed and muddled plot.
The play finds the kids from the mainline stories all grown up with families of their own, with Harry (Nick Dillenburg) married to Ginny (Abbi Hawk) and Ron (Matt Harrington) married to Hermione (Rachel Leslie).
But while familiar characters abound, the focus of the play is on Harry’s youngest son Albus (Adam Grant Morrison) and his friendship with the son of Harry’s oldest adversary Draco Malfoy (Ryan Hallahan), Scorpius Malfoy (David Fine).
The boys bond over their struggles bearing their respective family names, with the brash and independent Albus chafing against his father’s legendary status and the timid and twitchy Scorpius looking to escape his family’s connection to the Dark Lord Voldemort (who is apparently French now, as everyone in the play stopped pronouncing the “t” in his name in spite of eight movies doing the opposite).
From a set design standpoint, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is one of the most impressive productions ever staged. Magic spells, strange creatures and wizard fights are all brought to life with a stunning array of lights, sounds, wire work and practical illusions that have been honed on stage since the days of Vaudeville.
The sights and sounds alone are worth the price of admission and help paper over the shortcomings of the story. While Albus and Scorpius inject some new life into the story, there’s hardly any time to develop their characters because the convoluted plot moves at breakneck speed, rattling off the greatest hits of names and places and never giving us anything new to chew on.
It’s hard to tell if “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is the harbinger of a new age of interest in these stories (a reboot of the original novels debuts at the end of the year on HBO) or if it is one of the clear signs of a Harry Potter saturation point.
It also doesn’t help matters that Rowling seems more interested in a bizarre, public crusade against trans rights than in injecting any new creative life into the world she created.
At any rate, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has just enough magic to justify bringing this story to the stage. Point for Gryffindor!
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is now playing at the Fox Theatre through April 12. For tickets, call 314-534-1111 or go to metrotix.com.
