Review: HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD at National Theatre

The best-selling book series in history, which in turn became one of the highest-grossing franchises of filmdom would naturally spawn a big Broadway hit, the nationally touring version of which is playing D.C. at The National Theatre after four months each in Chicago and Los Angeles. 

The first version of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” in 2018 won six Tony awards including Best Play was a staggering five hours and 15 minutes long that came in two parts. Which may be understandable for a story that had stretched over seven books and eight feature films. 

It was only in 2021 that it was restaged as a single performance piece, minus an hour and a half. Another 30 minutes were cut eight months ago for the touring version at the National, where rabid Potter fans are rewarded with a swift moving story with nearly as many twists as the books, punctuated every few minutes by some clever theatrical stagecraft that first appears as instant costume change, fire-emitting magic wands, flight, a few instances of characters becoming others entirely before our eyes and some wild Matrix-style bending and tumbling.

The adult fan in a scarf and lightning bolt scar behind me just kept saying “Wow.”

I am not what you’d call a Potter fanatic, though I’ve abetted one over the years, attending midnight book release parties, snoozing through a few of the movies and getting motion sickness at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park attraction. 

Even so, is it possible for a novice to enjoy the stage production minus minute knowledge of the quite complicated story? Probably. But it’s touch and go for a while as echoey, fast-paced, hard-to-hear British accented patter makes way for the stage magic that comes like clockwork, at the swirl of every academic school gown. 

The spartan program comes with no synopsis and even the cast listing comes with a spoiler alert: “If you do not want to know all the characters featured in the play do not read until after the performance.” 

(So I guess the same rule would apply for a review).

The value of “Cursed Child” is that it is not a condensed version of a story previously told; but an entirely new one that advances the saga. Credited to Jack Thorne, it is based on an original new story he came up with original author J.K. Rowling and John Tiffany. 

It doesn’t so much concern the character of Harry Potter, now a middle-aged father, but that of his son, Albus Potter, who is sent packing off to Hogwarts himself in the opening scene. Things at school won’t be the same for the young one — not only does he have the weight of his father’s legacy on his shoulders, but he’s sorted into Slytherin instead of his father’s Gryffindor. 

And in Slytherin young Potter befriends Scorpius Malfoy, the son of his father’s foe Draco Malfoy. Part of this is teen rebelliousness and there is some father-son friction that provides the emotional underpinning to the adventures and antics that ensue — probably a few too many twists than is needed ultimately. 

Amid this modern day realm of Hogwarts, where so many students are offspring of past gang, there is also a chance to revisit names long gone or killed because the boys travel back in time with a Time-Turner device. Hence, there are some appearances by both Dumbledore and Snape (both handled by Larry Yando, bringing some gravitas to a cast of mostly youthful performers). Hey, even Voldemort is around, so the young people have their hands full. 

Things become at times overly complicated or just plain tedious as the action continues to shift at a breakneck pace. But the audience hangs on every hairpin turn, as rapt with this story as they might have been first reading one of the cherished books.

No doubt the experience is richest for these uber fans, where mere mention of an obscure character (Neville Longbottom!) is cause for knowing titters. We mere muggles are carried along by the solid central cast of the Potters senior (John Skelley) and junior (Emmet Smith) as well as the flamboyant and entertaining young Malfoy, Aidan Close, a Takoma Park native, it turns out.

That there is very clearly an implied romantic relationship between the two students is the kind of twist even Rowling may not have imagined. 

The continual barrage of special effects, amid stage settings that come from a gaggle of gown-swirling dances from the swing cast, creating various designs from a pair of intersecting staircases on wheels almost becomes fussy and show-offy after a while (though the blast of fire during a climactic battle gave a welcome moment of heat amid the theater’s frigid air-conditioning). 

Such effects sometimes seemed like excess razzle-dazzle especially when there was so much story to plow through. And as entertaining as it still turned out to be, it’s still a little puzzling how it won a Best Play Tony considering how wordy and frantic it could be, and how emotionally clumsy and repetitive the father-and-son reunion themes became. 

For most, though, it seemed the perfect connection between past and present, childhood and adult perspectives; and from all the books and movies and theme rides that came before, and the HBO series now shooting that is still due to come in 2027 — 30 years after the appearance of the first book.

Running time: Three hours and 15 minutes with one 20 minute intermission. 

Photo credit: Photo by Matthew Murphy.