This is a review of the actual stage play of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, not the screenplay.
``Happy Birthday`` said my wife, ``you are going to see Harry Potter!``. She said this to me a year ago, and it's only yesterday did the tickets come into force and I got to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. So I guess that covers two birthdays. I didn't think much of the published script, but people have assured me that seeing the thing in reality is a whole different experience to that of reading some glorified, risk free fan-fic. I'm now happy to confirm they are mostly correct.
Even from my seat, which was about a kilometre from the stage and hidden up in the upper right corner of a very tall theatre, this show is a feast for the eyes. This is the most technically impressive play I've ever seen, crammed full of clever sets, sleight of hand, trapdoors, wirework and goddamn flamethrowers. Every gimmick is on show in Harry Potter, and call me simple to please, but this seems to make all the difference. Whatever weaknesses there are in the stage play, its easy to be distracted from them by the sight of a full sized man disappearing into the coin slot of a phonebox, right before your eyes.
This play is in two parts, and the first one ends on a really strong point by scaring the shit out of every kid in the audience. I watched both halves in the same day and by the fourth hour, it was wearing out its welcome. The magic tapers off and is replaced by melodrama, do much melodrama! Too much of this play is devoted to exploring the fraught father-son relationship between its protagonist - Albus Potter, and his dad, Harry. Seeing a boy having to live in the shadow of his father's celebrity? Interesting. Seeing it for four hours? No. There is a plot involving time machines and clichéd time-travel shenanigans, but all of that is in service of allowing awkward family bonding sessions, or soap opera style rows. Even the climactic, firey finale is followed by three separate bonding epilogue scenes. It's like watching Return of the King, where the thing keeps coming to a natural closure, only to bring in yet more assholes with something to say.
The play has three basic themes; Love, family, friends, and it'll use every last minute to ram it down your throat. It all comes across as kind of cheesy. And hammy too; when the villains are revealed, they do it in full pantomime villain mode. Even before we get to that point, there's lots of fannying around, dancing and whimsy, and it looks a bit too Disney for the franchise.
Harry Potter is impressive and exciting experience that is worth the admission and really long wait. But the weaknesses in script do eventually creep through into the overall experience. I had a good time, but judging by all the phone screens I could see amongst the rest of the audience, it was too long a time for everyone, me included.
Harry Potter and the Play That's Not About Harry Potter
This is a review of the actual stage play of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, not the screenplay.
``Happy Birthday`` said my wife, ``you are going to see Harry Potter!``. She said this to me a year ago, and it's only yesterday did the tickets come into force and I got to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. So I guess that covers two birthdays. I didn't think much of the published script, but people have assured me that seeing the thing in reality is a whole different experience to that of reading some glorified, risk free fan-fic. I'm now happy to confirm they are mostly correct.
Even from my seat, which was about a kilometre from the stage and hidden up in the upper right corner of a very tall theatre, this show is a feast for the eyes. This is the most technically impressive play I've ever seen, crammed full of clever sets, sleight of hand, trapdoors, wirework and goddamn flamethrowers. Every gimmick is on show in Harry Potter, and call me simple to please, but this seems to make all the difference. Whatever weaknesses there are in the stage play, its easy to be distracted from them by the sight of a full sized man disappearing into the coin slot of a phonebox, right before your eyes.
This play is in two parts, and the first one ends on a really strong point by scaring the shit out of every kid in the audience. I watched both halves in the same day and by the fourth hour, it was wearing out its welcome. The magic tapers off and is replaced by melodrama, do much melodrama! Too much of this play is devoted to exploring the fraught father-son relationship between its protagonist - Albus Potter, and his dad, Harry. Seeing a boy having to live in the shadow of his father's celebrity? Interesting. Seeing it for four hours? No. There is a plot involving time machines and clichéd time-travel shenanigans, but all of that is in service of allowing awkward family bonding sessions, or soap opera style rows. Even the climactic, firey finale is followed by three separate bonding epilogue scenes. It's like watching Return of the King, where the thing keeps coming to a natural closure, only to bring in yet more assholes with something to say.
The play has three basic themes; Love, family, friends, and it'll use every last minute to ram it down your throat. It all comes across as kind of cheesy. And hammy too; when the villains are revealed, they do it in full pantomime villain mode. Even before we get to that point, there's lots of fannying around, dancing and whimsy, and it looks a bit too Disney for the franchise.
Harry Potter is impressive and exciting experience that is worth the admission and really long wait. But the weaknesses in script do eventually creep through into the overall experience. I had a good time, but judging by all the phone screens I could see amongst the rest of the audience, it was too long a time for everyone, me included.