Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions
Lyric Theatre, Broadway
April 15, 2018

How to describe the indescribable? Or at least the prohibited? It’s the kind of literary googly you’d expect Severus Snape to keep up his sleeve for flummoxing uppity young wizards. But with handout badges requesting audience members – and tormentingly reviewers – to #KeepTheSecrets, only a muddle-headed Muggle or the evil Lord Voldemort would risk the wrath of JK Rowling by revealing the plot of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the eighth volume in the world’s most successful series of children’s fiction and the first to find itself realised on stage.

Noma Dumezweni, Susan Heyward, Paul Thornley, Olivia Bond, Ben Wheelwright, Jamie Parker, Poppy Miller and Sam Clemmett. Photo © Manuel Harlan

The show, weighing in at $68.5 million (that’s nearly $90 million AUD!) required a complete refit of the Lyric, one of Broadway’s largest theatres, and from the moment you enter the foyer the results are breath-taking. From the wine-dark Hogwarts-themed interior panelling and dragon wall lamps to a vaulted roof and ‘H’ monogrammed carpets, the design team has created a magical space that can light...