I’m not what you’d call a fan of the fantasy genre (though I did try to make it through the first Lord Of The Rings movie and the first Harry Potter flick), but even a fantasy curmudgeon like me found myself thoroughly dazzled and ultimately quite moved by Harry Potter And The Cursed Son, now packing them in at the Pantages.

I did know going in that J.K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter novels (and the film adaptations they inspired) focused on three schoolchildren studying at school of magic called Hogwarts, and that the actors who played them became major stars (or at least two out of three did).

But that was about it until a bit of pre-show research revealed that Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (written by Jack Thorne from an original new story by Rowling, Thorne, and John Tiffany) focuses not just on the now 40ish Harry (John Skelley), Hermione Granger (Ebony Blake), and Ron Weasley (Nathan Hosner) but more significantly on Harry and Ginny’s (Trish Lindstom) son Albus (Emmet Smith), Ron and Hermione’s daughter Rose (Naiya Vanessa McCalla), and Scorpius Malfoy (Aiden Close), son of someone named Draco Malfoy (Ben Thys).

I could tell from the audience’s reactions to what was happening on stage that they knew about a zillion times more about the Harry Potter universe than I did, but from the moment a bunch of characters wearing street clothes spun around and suddenly the everyday outfits they were wearing had morphed into floor-length black capes, I knew there would be a whole lot of theatrical wizardry going on over the next three hours, and I waited with bated breath for each new how-did-they-do-that magical illusion designed by Jamie Harrison.

Characters levitate, they float, they soar above the stage, they do in-the-air acrobatics, and if you can spot any wires they might be suspended from, you’ve got better eyesight than I have.

There are scenes when one character transforms into another right before our eyes. Others exit stage left and reappear stage right in mere seconds. Prop suitcases do somersaults through the air. Flames shoot across the stage and smoke shoots out from someone’s ears.

And in one particularly stunning effect repeated more than once, the upstage walls start to ripple as if by magic. (Okay, I know that’s probably a projection design trick, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome.)

The list of magical effects goes on and on and on, and though in a movie it would be easy to chalk them up to CGI, what makes Harry Potter And The Cursed Son worth experiencing even for those like myself who might not make it past the half-hour mark of a Harry Potter movie is seeing each effect more impossible to achieve than the one before get performed live on stage, show after show after show.

And so what if you’re like me and couldn’t possibly hope to summarize the plot. (It involves time travel, I can tell you that.) You may feel somewhat short-changed compared to Harry Potter fanatics who could recount in detail what happens every step of the way (back stories and all), but you’ll still have the most remarkable time at what is at its core a story of a father and a son in dire need of connection and two best friends who clearly love each other more than they ever will their respective future brides.

All of the aforementioned actors along with Julia Nightingale as a villainous Delphi Diggory and another couple dozen multi-threats get the workout of their acting lives under Tiffany’s Tony-winning direction with movement directors Steven Hoggett’s Tony-nominated choreography (including a whole lot of what I’ll call swirling cloak-e-ography) turning Harry Potter And The Cursed Child into what might just as well be called a musical minus songs. (Imogen Heap wrote the show’s original music.)

 And it should come as no surprise to anyone who sees Harry Potter at the Pantages that it swept the play design categories at the Tonys, winning statuettes for Christine Jones’ scenic design, Katrina Lindsay’s costumes, Neil Austin’s lighting, and Gareth Fry’s sound design, and the Broadway production would likely have won more were Tonys awarded for Illusions/Magic (Harrison), Video/Projections (Finn Ross and Ash J. Woodward), and Hair, Wigs, and Makeup (Carole Hancock).

 Kudos too to all the “associates” who have kept Harry Potter And The Cursed Child going strong nine years after its West End debut.

It’s rare that a Broadway play embarks on the kind of national tour usually reserved for musicals, and rarer still that a non-musical has enough box-office clout to merit a four-month stop at the 2700-seat Pantages Theatre.

But even minus songs and dances Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is an absolute must-see for anyone who loves live theater, even for those like this reviewer who know virtually nothing about the Harry Potter universe and under other circumstances could hardly care less.

Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles. Through June 22. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7:30 Fridays at 8:00. Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00. Sundays at 1:00 and 7:00.
https://tour.harrypottertheplay.com/

–Steven Stanley
April 16, 2025
Photos: Matthew Murphy

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Broadway In Hollywood, J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, Los Angeles Theater Review, Pantages Theatre