When the first Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” published in June 1997, it changed the literature landscape for young readers.
At the time, I was assigned to write the cover stories for the weekly INK (Issues and News for Kids) Tuesday features section of the newspaper and I, like many, welcomed Harry Potter to cast his spell on an entirely new generation of avid readers for a renewed interest in fantasy, wizards and a young hero sporting a thunderbolt scar.
There are seven books in the series before it completed in 2007. The Hollywood follow-up film franchise which launched in 2001 continued through 2011.
It was eight years ago when a new live franchise tale continuation captured the characters from page to stage to star in the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” It premiered at the Palace Theatre in London in July 2016 and it still continues to draw sold-old audiences, including readers who tell me they’ve already purchased tickets for “over the pond.”
When news earlier this year that a new production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” was ready to plant roots in Chicago, that’s when I started fielding these types of reader questions.
“I love all of the Harry Potter books and movies but I’m confused which story they are bringing to the stage for this Broadway musical,” queried Mandy Zormier of Hobart.
“I’m 41 and I grew up with these books and movies.”
Julia Ross, 18, of Terre Haute is eager to make the trek “up north” to see this new Potter production, but she’s worried because she hasn’t “read that book in this series yet.”
Eryn Irrera, a 2015 graduate of Valparaiso University, already purchased tickets for November to join her mother to see the production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” playing London’s West End, but now wonders if she should see the closer Chicago run as a compromise.
Kayla Miller, 24, of Crown Point is “a huge Harry Potter fan” but she’s confused about how large his character’s role “really is” in the plot line of the Chicago run, which just opened Tuesday at the James M. Nederlander Theatre and continues through Feb. 1, 2025.
So many questions, and finally after this week’s launch (which I haven’t seen), we have most of the answers.
First and foremost, this new play does include music but this is not a musical. Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is billed as “a play by Jack Thorne as directed by John Tiffany.” The Chicago production serves as the launch of the first national tour. The touring production is based on the acclaimed Broadway production, which is still currently playing at the Lyric Theatre, New York. This is a fresh content story, and not based on a previously published book.
The plot picks up where the last Harry Potter film left off: It is 19 years after Harry, Ron and Hermione saved the wizarding world. For this script, they are united for a new adventure joined by their new generation students at legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Adult Harry Potter is played by John Skelley and his head-strong son Albus is played by Emmet Smith, the latter who befriends the son of his fiercest rival, Draco Malfoy, played here by Ben Thys.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is the first Harry Potter story to be presented on stage and has been referred to by Rowling as “the eighth story in the Harry Potter series.” To date, it has sold more than 10 million tickets worldwide since its world premiere in London in July 2016 and has garnered six Tony Awards including Best Play. There are currently other international productions in Hamburg and Tokyo, with completed runs in Melbourne, Toronto and San Francisco.
The aforementioned November tickets purchased by reader Eyin for the London West End run are not going to be for a production that has the same script as this Chicago production. The original production in London’s West End is a “two-part” play experience, requiring two performances (and two sets of purchased tickets). The reimagined Broadway production, which is featured for our Chicago run, is a traditional one-performance experience.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” also has the distinction in Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing non-musical play in Broadway history with more than $270 million total sales and more than 2.5 million tickets sold.
And readers aren’t the only sorts caught up in confusion and questions.
Actor Larry Yando, who spent 15 years floating for the holidays at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol,” is cast as villain Severus Snape for the new Chicago production.
“When I was first in discussion to join the cast, I too thought I was part of a retelling of one of the original Potter books,” said Yando when I chatted with him this week.
“This play is so much better because it’s the favorite characters plus new characters all joined together in a new story adventure.”
Yando, who is so often cast as “the heavy” in stage projects, including playing Scar in “Disney’s The Lion King,” bah-humbug Scrooge and Shere Kahn the tiger in “Disney’s The Jungle Book,” said he loves roles that are “a contrast to the good guy.”
“I don’t think of these characters as villains,” Yando said.
“I think of them as damaged souls.”
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
