Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Shows All Future Harry Potter Stories Should Take Place On Stage
Greg Ehrhardt, OnStage Blog Editorial Staff
Last weekend, I surprised my now 11-year-old daughter with tickets for her birthday to see “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” She’s a big Harry Potter fan, and, cutting to the chase, we had a great time. If you like Harry Potter and haven’t seen this show yet, especially if you have kids, bring them to this show on Broadway or the West End as soon as possible.
But that’s not the purpose of this editorial. The show has been out for several years; the reviews are almost all positive (except for the Redditors who, with some validity, describe it as bad fan fiction, but they’re missing the point of the show, as I’ll get to). The purpose of this editorial is that the show was so impactful for me and my daughter and that what I got to thinking about while taking the train back home to Connecticut was:
“Any future Harry Potter story should take place only on stage”.
Now, I know that’s not going to happen. Max is re-adapting the original Harry Potter saga into an episodic format, and, as much Daniel Radcliffe has insisted he wants no part of it, as well as J.K. Rowling (and it would be a shame to do this without Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith), I still think they will eventually make “The Cursed Child” into a movie; it just fits too perfectly into the Hollywood Legacy-quel formula, and, ultimately, money talks.
But man, in 2025, the only way to recreate the original magic of the Harry Potter story is to adapt it to the stage.
If you haven’t seen the show and know nothing about the plot, as I did (I purposely avoided any spoilers for years), know that the reviews are true; the special effects are second to none. After almost every trick they pulled to fake magic on stage, my daughter whispered: “How did they do that?”.
And even though I had a pretty good guess for every trick except for the telephone box (it happened so fast, so early in the show, I had no idea how they pulled that off), I didn’t dare tell her my suspicions. She felt pure magic in a story-telling format, and you could threaten to smash my hand Ace Rothstein style, and I wouldn’t pull back the curtain for her.
In today’s world, magic is so easy to pull off on screen that kids, and especially adults, are bored of it. When “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” appeared on the big screen in 2001, the CGI they used to fake the magic was still cool. Importantly, the main characters, especially Harry, were impressed by it even through Goblet of Fire. If the characters are wowed by it, so are the audience, especially kids.
As the movie's CGI technology became more commonplace and the characters got older, the magic the witches and wizards used became more ordinary. Also, the story shifted to finishing the character arcs and completing the “Harry vs. Voldemort” storyline, which was done very effectively and, in a way, singularly. The Harry Potter saga is fundamentally great storytelling in book and movie format.
However, the Harry Potter franchise lost its way in the “Fantastic Beasts” series for two reasons: 1) the main characters were all adults, and 2) the CGI behind the magic became ordinary and unimpressive. They could have fixed #1 but could do nothing about #2. CGI became too good and too regular an occurrence in Hollywood.
But magic tricks are still awesome to see in person, especially on stage at the Lyric Theatre, which has limited resources and space to present “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child”.
Now, the actual magic on stage for the show is nothing special when you compare it to the tricks Las Vegas magicians do daily to wow their audience.
However, to borrow a theme from the movie “The Prestige,” anyone can do a magic trick. The actual trick is how you sell it.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child sells magic tricks within the context of telling a compelling (and yes, preposterous) story.
(N.B. My editor made me throw that in there to appease the angry mob that frequents the Harry Potter Reddit boards).
My daughter and I were on the edge of our seats, watching the developments unfold. Then you see wizards dueling on stage, objects levitating, and so much more I won’t spoil. The practical magic employed makes you feel like you are in Hogwarts inside Lyric Theatre.
That’s the goal of a Harry Potter story in books, on screen, or on stage. In 2001, you could pull this off on screen. In 2025, even with a 3D format, you won’t get this experience anymore.
But you still can on stage.
The Harry Potter saga is more than just magic, of course. It’s a brilliant slow-burn coming-of-age story replete with positive messages about the importance of friendship, among many other themes.
A story with actual magic but without the messaging described above is ordinary. A story with messaging but without magic is commonplace.
A story with both can still be special.
In today’s world, you can only have both on stage.
Cheers to everyone behind Harry Potter and The Cursed Child; you can still make kids believe in magic.
The following is an epilogue to this editorial and contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
As a side note, my daughter and I debated who the actual cursed child was after the show. You can argue that it is Scorpius, Delphi, Albus, or all three. My daughter thought it was Delphi since she was the show's villain. While thinking about my answer, I purposely did not google other theories; I wanted to see where I came out uninfluenced by Reddit theories.
I suspect the authors intended it to be interpreted as all three of them were (in different ways), and the point of the story is to look at how every kid’s upbringing can be cursed in some fashion. The Cursed Child becomes special when you look at the play with those glasses. Every kid and every parent can identify with this story in some fashion.
I shared my theory with my daughter that Scorpius, Delphia, and Albus are all the cursed child. Her eyes opened big, and she started to think quietly about it while eating her pizza. She says, “Yeah, you’re right, they were all cursed. That’s so sad.”
That’s its own magic right there.