Potter Plays on a Wednesday

This past week I was incredibly lucky to get receive tickets to Harry Potter and The Cursed Child parts one and two. Unless you have been living in a cave for the last decade you have probably heard of the Harry Potter book and film series. The books by J.K. Rowling are wildly successful as were the films based on their editions. Now the young wizard has made his way to the West End stage and will soon transfer to the bright lights of Broadway.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child parts one and two are the next adventure in the series started by the books. Rowling wrote this new section of Harry Potter in script format and intended it for the stage. The book can be purchased but readers will not read a novel, they will read a script. The story seen on stage is not found on screen, it is only available for viewing at the Palace Theatre in London.

This, of course, is brilliant marketing. As a producer, I applaud this new way of exploring a recognizable commodity. Producers tap into the incredible network of Harry Potter fandom, which is in the millions and worldwide, but create an original piece for the stage as opposed to recreating a stage version of a film or book already known. One of the marketing slogans is "Keep The Secrets" and there is a real sense of loyalty from the audience to avoid disclosing the details of what they saw on stage and spoil the plot for audiences to come.

Tickets are incredibly hard to come by and performances are sold out through May 2017 and beyond that, tickets are not available to purchase. However, patrons do have some options. They can keep checking for returns or they can attempt to purchase tickets from "The Friday Forty". "The Friday Forty" are forty tickets the box office holds for release on Friday that are seats for the following week's performances. This gives people a fighting chance to see the show.

The other clever bit of the marketing of the show is that the story comes in two parts and thus, two performances. There is just too much tale to tell to fit into one show. This has been done at the theatre before. Charles Dickens' novel The Life and Time of Nicholas Nickleby was adapted into a two-part stage play by David Edgar and Tom Stoppard's trilogy The Coast of Utopia requires attendance at three performances to view the complete story. The Potter producers were smart to follow the lead of these previous epics. Each part of the story fits neatly into a performance of two hours and change. And of course, this means patrons will want to purchase twice as many tickets so as not to miss anything.

The performance schedule alternates between part one and part two. One of the easiest ways to ingest it all in one trip is to see both on the same day, as I did. Part one was a matinee performance, dinner break and then part two in the evening.

I must thank my friend, Shai, for passing on his tickets to me. He ended up being out of town last week, so I was quite fortunate he offered the seat to me. Thanks Shai!

As for the show, I'm sorry, I can't really talk about it. "Keep the Secrets" and all. I'll just say, the special effects were excellent and Potter fans will be in heaven. If you are not up on all your Potter, don't worry, the story stands on its own and you will be able to follow the plot just fine.

If you do get the chance to see the show, go! Theatre history in the making!

Coming up this week: more thesis research and more trips to the theatre.
I'll keep you posted!

Take care!
-m